Richard Dreyfuss: Improving Civic Education

Link: Richard Dreyfuss: Improving Civic Education

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No, I am not on my trip blogging (but don’t put it past me). I just wrote this last night and scheduled it for later as to not send out two posts right after each other.

However, I wanted to share this great talk. It was filmed at the Commonwealth Club in July of last year. (See link above)

Richard Dreyfuss discusses the need and necessity of civic education and how our society is beginning to disregard its importance. He stands up against the push for facts and memorization (standardized tests) that have begun to get in the way of preparing young men and women for a life where critical thinking and reason are a vital requirement. As Robert M. Hutchins said, “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

I believe Mr. Dreyfuss is concerned, just like many of us who teach the social sciences, that society and public schools in particular, are becoming more apathetic and that has begun in the classrooms where history and government teachers are being forced to teach random objectives that can be quantified on a multiple choice test.

So what should we be doing? I believe Stephen Lazar said it best when he said, “the primary job of social studies teachers is to prepare critical citizens.” He explains that to be a critical citizen:

Students need to know that they need to “read” the New York Post differently from the USA Today, the New York Times differently from the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC differently from Fox News.  Moreover, they need to know to critically evaluate what they find through Google or YouTube.

So with this in mind the talk from Mr. Dreyfuss made a big impact. He speaks with reason and logic. He has quietly reflected on this issue for a great deal of time and it shows. He has evaluated and analyzed his words and thoughts meticulously. He demonstrates the very ideal that he is arguing for in a profound way. I highly recommend taking the time to watch this great talk.

Once done, don’t stop there. Go to the Dreyfuss Initiative to see the ideas he expresses in action.

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Related articles

• the dreyfuss initiative (andreadreamin.com)
• Richard Dreyfuss Teaches America a Lesson in Civics (aarp.org)