CIVICS

As the United States acclimates to the "flood the zone" governing style, reasoned discourse around civics has crumbled. https://youtu.be/ngx0GxJjmDM There are many causes. Polarizing media, bombastic claims, and systematized gas-lighting on both sides have created one of the most toxic political environments since the Vietnam War. However, the absence of civics and good citizenship concepts have laid the groundwork for the hysterics of today. LINDSEY CORMACK has a way forward. She is the author of the book "How to Raise a Citizen " https://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Citizen-Why-Its-ebook/dp/B0DBWYTXJ4/ Outline: Why are Civics Important? Recent stats on the absence of civics Understanding structures Understanding the "why" of structures and civics Knowing what the Constitution says Knowing that the Constitution evolves too Understanding federalism Government funding mechanisms Communication- how to broach inflamed subjects How to raise the next generation What makes a good citizen?  Going beyond jury duty and voting Civics and Active participation Intersection with wealthy multi-generational families Joint decision-maling Believing in something greater than self Guardrails of ideals melded with open-mindedness and curiosity Right holder vs Duty bearer (Rights come with obligations) Justice vs compliance  Control vs grace Right and wrong in civics Contacting Lindsey Links: www.howtoraiseacitizen.com IG: @howtoraiseacitizen Lindsay discussing civics on Errol Louis' YOU DECIDE Podcast The Intersection of Civics, Money and Presidents Rights and Obligations with David Haass (Civics) Background LINDSEY is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Stevens Institute of Technology. She is the former Director of the Diplomacy Lab. She is the secretary of community board 8 in Manhattan and the co-chair of the Street Life Committee. Lindsey is the creator of DCInbox, a comprehensive digital archive of Congress-to-constituent e-newsletters.  Finally, she is also the author of Congress and U.S. Veterans: From the GI Bill to the VA Crisis. Frazer's interest in citizenship and civics: You may be wondering why a show about wealth management (and beyond) would be interested in citizenship and civics.   In a nutshell, I get asked three times a day what can be done to raise responsible kids.  Because families (and the answers to those questions) are different. The answers should come from within, I ask what they (the parents or grandparents what think it takes to be a "good citizen."  The answer to that question can then lead into the discussions I need to have about stewardship and a variety of other concepts. Additionally, good civics is good business. Businesses ignore the politics around them at their own peril. Board dynamics are also the intersection of civics, joint decision-making and constituent accountability for businesses. Executives have to be good at this. The values that make people successful are also the ones that people want to pass down to their kids Personally, politics and civics are ingrained in me.  I majored inhHistory and political science major in college. I worked in many NYS campaigns, the NYS Department of Economic Development, and ran the Republican Party in Bedford, NY for a year. More recently, I was on the board of my co-op for 7 years and president of the NYC Estate Planning Council. Civics and participation are a big part of my worldview. Transcript Frazer Rice (00:32.447) As we get acclimated to the new flood the zone component of politics, reason discourse has crumbled. And I think absence of civics in public life is the cause. Lindsay Cormack has a way forward and she's the author of How to Raise a Citizen. Welcome aboard, Lindsay. Lindsey Cormack (00:46.978) Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk with you today. Frazer Rice (00:50.025) This will be a lot of fun. It harkens back to my background before wealth management and lawyering and all that stuff. Tell us a little bit about what you do and the impetus for the book. Lindsey Cormack (01:02.574): Background Sure, so for the last 10 years, I've been a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. This is primarily in an engineering school in Hoboken, New Jersey. It is one of the reasons that I ended up writing this book. I have some of the brightest students that I've ever been around. They have really high test scores. They know how to do school. When I teach them intro to American government, I realize most of them have been failed by our school systems. They do not understand the landscape of the government. They don't understand their own routes of power. They're not practiced and having hard conversations. I've got wonderful students who are going to go on to successful careers in everything. We should make sure that they have this positive look at government and this better understanding than they're getting. And it's true that it's not just happening in New Jersey. It's kind of everywhere. Frazer Rice (01:47.737) What does the absence of civics look like in the education system? I seem to recall a stat that you put forward that it's almost like less than 1%. It's actually focused on in a curriculum in public schools. Lindsey Cormack (02:00.652) on Civics Yeah, so it's really hard to say here's how civics instruction happens. Every state has its own approach. Within every state, the independent schools have different approaches than the public schools. The charter schools or the mini schools have different approaches. The modal form of delivery across the United States is usually in your seventh or eighth grade of school. At that grade, you have some social studies class. That's where students are going to learn a little bit about the founding. They'll learn about some like westward expansion. They're taught a history lesson about like how we got to where we are. The actual lessons that they hear vary. But that's like the basics. We usually wait until the second semester of 12th grade to give students a class called government. The amount of instruction time that we've had on civics and government has only gone down from the 1940s. It is the subject that has the least amount of focus and time allocated to it. And it also has the lowest amount of federal dollars spent on it. For every $50 that gets spent on STEM, the science, technology, engineering, math disciplines, only five cents go to civics. We don't give it enough attention in schools and we haven't been doing that for a very long time. Frazer Rice (03:07.564) I mean, I'm never going to be one to say take money away from STEM. At the same time, to not have that background is crazy. With the polarization of information that's out there, the ability to deal with information is vital. The news that you get, the values you have and the understanding of our structures are vital. How do you think about that in terms of structuring your curriculum? Lindsey Cormack (03:34.734) So for me, in my intro to American government class, it moves very, very slowly. Like we're coming up on midterms. We've been in school for about eight weeks and we still are not done with the Constitution. We're still in the amendments. That's because I know that if our students know the rules of the game, they can figure out everything else with a clearer brain. And so we go really line by line figuring out what did this mean? What were they trying to say? What are they not saying? I think that's animportant starting piece that we don't have in most K through 12 educational systems. It doesn't surprise me that we don't have this. The end result is for most kids in high school, it's a score on an SAT or an ACT. Neither one of those exams has any components of social studies. And if it's not tested, it's not taught. So I understand why it's not in the curriculum, because we don't think we need to evaluate students on this. Frazer Rice (04:25.531) You dive into the Constitution, which is a great underpinning of how the United States works. I'm sure you go into the history of it and where many of the concepts and values came from. What else surrounds what you're teaching on that front? Lindsey Cormack (04:41.336): Learning to Communicate Usually I start with:, "what have they heard so far?" I like to start any conversation that might be controversial with this. It's helpful with students who have difference of opinions. I just like to set the table and say like, well, what have you heard? Here's something that I heard a few years ago that really stuck. The constitution doesn't say anything about slavery. And I was like, that is such an interesting take. Let's go read it with a keen eye for that. Like if you just do a control F and try to find slavery, you're right. It doesn't say slavery. There's three to four oblique references to the practice that are in there that takes a little bit more observation. You just have to have a keener eye to it. And that's something where I like to go with like, what are they starting with? Then how can we get to something that lets them appreciate something in a bigger? Or fuller or more robust manner? Frazer Rice (05:24.169) The history of the Constitution is important too, For example, you can get things like three-fifths voting for slavery, There may be previous incarnations of slavery, but it's been changed to reflect different values and cultural norms. Lindsey Cormack (05:40.962): The Evolving Constitution Yeah, that's right. That's something that I think our schools do an OK job at. We teach them this is a historical form of theater. You know, we say to our kids 250 years ago, some really smart guys got together and wrote this document. Isn't it great?