If there is a bona fide kickoff moment for this year’s 250th anniversary of American independence, it is Presidents Day. For the three-day holiday weekend, many institutions tied to the nation’s history offered some sort of event. George Washington’s Mount Vernon, for example, announced free admission on Feb. 16, along with a “stirring reading” of “Washington’s Prayer for His Country.”
Yet in addition to this year’s celebratory revelry, many Americans are seeking civic repair. Rising political polarization has led to a refreshing interest in civics education. And not just in schools nor merely by rote learning of historic facts and founding documents.
One example of a desire for understanding civic responsibilities is a bipartisan bill introduced last month in Nebraska. Since 2019, teens in the state have had to pass a civics requirement to graduate. But the bill would now require new members of the state Legislature to take a 20-question civics test, much like immigrants take for United States citizenship. And the scores would be made public.
“We don’t know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve come from, right?” said state Sen. Tanya Storer, a bill sponsor.
Another effort is America Gives, a project of the official America250 organization. The initiative aims to help Americans achieve the highest-recorded year of volunteer service in U.S. history. The premise is that “giving back” is a form of patriotic gratitude that can bind people across political divides.
In schools, interest in improving civics education perked up after a 2022 survey of eighth graders found a steep decline in knowledge about the Constitution and how democracy works. A survey of adults in 2024 found 70% failed to name the three branches of government.
A new emphasis in schools, however, is less on accumulating knowledge than on qualities inherent to self-governance, such as restraint, reason, and respect. “The declining trust in institutions, rising polarization, and youth’s growing disaffection with democracy cannot be fixed with civics course requirements,” wrote education consultant Ross Wiener in the magazine for the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Civics training is being integrated into other academic topics, even math, or by involving students in community groups, government, or local history projects to develop curiosity, trust, and a sense of belonging. Some schools have caught on that civics skills are highly desired by employers.
In Illinois, which has been a pioneer in rethinking civics learning, one student responded to the state effort with this: “Before this project, I thought democracy was just voting. Now I know it’s about listening, compromising, and making something better together.”
The new civics is more about how citizens interact – with calm reflection and humility in a search for shared purpose. Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence, said self-government requires “habit and long training.” Americans might honor his advice this year in marking the declaration’s anniversary between now and the Fourth of July.