Youth in the USA
Civic Education The state of civic education and civic engage - ment in the United States has significant room for improvement. A study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that only one in four Americans were able to name the four bran - ches of government. Further, a 2019 study noted that only 17 % of people trust govern - ment officials in Washington D.C. to do the right thing. Civic education for young peop - le typically takes place in the form of a social studies course a youth takes during secondary education. There is a large discrepancy among the states on how much civics education is required, with some states not offering civics courses at all. Nine states and the District of Columbia require one full academic year of ci - vics education. Thirty-one states require half of a year and ten states do not require civics edu - cation courses at all. The curriculum of these courses tend to focus on rote memorization of knowledge about the Constitution and Bill of Rights and how the U.S. government functions. There could be more opportunity for the cur - riculum to focus more directly on youth enga - gement in local political issues. To fill the gap that exists in schools for civics education, the - re are non-profits throughout the country that work to train teachers and create curriculum to strengthen civics education.
At the national level, two non-profits that have had a large influence in this space are Genera - tion Citizen and Learning for Justice. Generation Citizen Generation Citizen has taught action civics to 30,000 middle and high school students. The organization is very youth centered and helps to learn about the root causes of community problems and work on issues directly affecting them and their communities through a se - mester-long course. Youth learn engagement tactics and present their issue and how to work on making it better to their class. The ma - jority of those who participate in this program believe that they are able to make a difference in their community after having participated in the program. Learning for Justice Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tole - rance) is an organization that provides free social-justice oriented curricula to teachers. The organization has many different forms of media that one can use including films, maga - zines, and online materials. The organization also provides professional development for teachers on civics education. Learning for Ju - stice has curricula on race and ethnicity, reli - gion, ability, economic class, immigration, gen - der and sexual identity, bullying and bias, and
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