4/29/2024

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal starts off with the latest piece by Jack Miller. In “Competition, the American Way” at RealClearEducation, Miller writes that “we should be preparing all our young people to be good citizens, but also for good-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree.” High schools should offer students a two-track program: “Keep the college prep program going for those who want to go on to postsecondary education,” Miller argues. “Also, another track should be introduced for the majority who don’t plan to go to college.” He notes that the benefits of doing this would be immense: it would provide a needed expansion of the labor pool in light of a labor shortage and declining birth rates and would also instill a sense of pride and family formation for individuals aspiring to a middle-class lifestyle. Finally, Miller says that this project is one the states would need to push since education is under their purview. They should “not wait for the federal government to shoulder this responsibility. The fastest, most efficient method is for the states to act now,” Miller concludes.

Also at RealClearEducation, American Civics portal editor Mike Sabo commends the work of a growing number of civics institutions that are dedicated to advancing a more thoughtful study of civics in the classroom today. He interviews political theory professor Richard Avramenko, a Jack Miller Center faculty fellow who will be taking over as director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University in July. Avramenko maintains “that serious civics study is needed to counter the materialism, perfectionism, and egalitarianism that students tend to bring with them to the classroom today.” He contends, “It is our job in civic institutes to provide the opportunity to probe deeply into different views of the world,” which he says is “a necessary habit…for a community of thoughtful citizens.” Avramenko concludes by noting that Americans – those living in both red and blue states – should establish civic institutions of the caliber of SCETL.