The good news is a few years back, some saw a looming civics crisis and have been doing something about it.
Kudos to former Utah Sen. Howard Stephenson and Utah Rep. Steve Eliason for showing real legislative leadership in 2015 when they sponsored and passed the American Civics Education Initiative, a law requiring more civics education in Utah’s schools. Others who worked on this important project were Rick Larsen, Chuck Warren, Alex Iorg, Michael Melendez, Hillary Koellner and Clark Caras. They saw the future.
On April 21, the Sutherland Institute and Bill of Rights Institute are jointly sponsoring in Salt Lake City a critical discussion about civics. They will be reviewing Utah’s progress in educating students.
And there are other things, which, if they continue, may allow us to sidestep potential constitutional crises in our future.
Our current situation nationally — our driftings, our media and data selection silos, our tendency to fail to listen to or acknowledge divergent viewpoints, together with a general decline in national civility — make it even more important that we double down on civics.
So I ask you: Please support civics and civics education. Discuss it everywhere — with friends and opponents alike.
Read the full article at Deseret News.