Editorials & Other Articles

cuts and hard working teachers are dealing with more and more responsibilities, stress, limited resources and supplies, along with inadequate salaries in recent times. Some of this mentioned in the article, and excerpted below. Many teachers have been leaving the profession because of these issues and more since this 2020 article.

I don't think it's a pure take down and hit piece on schools and blaming teachers but clearly we need to build up knowledge in civics and government somehow, esp. now when democracy is seriously threatened.

Agree that people are working many hours and are stressed due to the poor work and life balance in the US which is inexcusable in the richest country on earth. They have little time for extras like becoming involved in civic groups and building community.

It's very different now from earlier decades when the US middle class was the largest in the world before Reagan and the hard right began lowering it by cutting unions, lowering wages and benefits, increasing college costs and other measures.
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- Excerpt: While 42 states and the District of Columbia require at least one course related to civics, few states prioritize the range of strategies, such as service learning which is only included in the standards for 11 states, that is required for an effective civic education experience.

- The study also found that high school social studies teachers are some of the least supported teachers in schools and report teaching larger numbers of students and taking on more non-teaching responsibilities like coaching school sports than other teachers...