Providing civic learning and engagement opportunities is critical at all points along the educational continuum from middle school — and perhaps even earlier — through high school to college. There are three primary reasons, however, to start in middle school. First, educational research suggests that the formation of a positive orientation toward an area early in a student’s schooling increases the potential for sustained interest and participation. Second, middle school students have … [Read more...]

  …trade wars are good, and easy to win. That was part of a Donald Trump tweet on March 2, 2018. As usual, the President was wrong on both counts. With this tweet he was either displaying his ignorance, which is transcendent. Or once again making false or misleading claims, which the Washington Post reports that as of October 13, he had done nearly 13,500 times in the 993 days he has been in office. Whichever, the consequences of Trump’s trade wars … [Read more...]

  On August 19, the Business Roundtable (Roundtable), an organization comprised of America’s largest corporations redefined its statement of purpose. The statement was revised from placing primacy on shareholders to promoting “an economy that serves all Americans.” This new focus expanded the Roundtable’s scope of stakeholders from a universe of one to include: customers, suppliers, communities, and employees. For the employee stakeholder, the statement called for “Investing in our … [Read more...]

  Our American democracy is at risk.   It is being threatened from without by interventions such as the “sweeping and systematic interference” by Russia in the 2016 presidential election. It is being threatened from within by the pseudo form of “nationalism” being promoted by President Donald Trump. Trump first proudly pronounced himself a nationalist in October of 2018 at a rally for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (D-TX). Trump’s proclamation at that time evoked a … [Read more...]

  In 1930, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a seminal piece for Pictorial Review titled Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education. In her article, Ms. Roosevelt asserted, In our schools are now given courses in civics, government, economics, current events. Very few children are as ignorant as I once was. But there still remains a vast amount to be done before we accomplish our first objective — informed and intelligent citizens, and secondly bring about that the … [Read more...]