In an op-ed published in the New York Daily News, TC’s Michael Rebell writes that America’s public schools are largely failing to meet their core responsibility to the American public: to educate young people in civic values and prepare them “to be good citizens, capable of safeguarding our democratic values.” Schools have cut civics and history instruction and focused instead on math and literacy classes. The resulting lack of understanding about how the nation’s democracy works - and of citizens’ responsibilities to sustain it - has contributed to the sharp political divisions currently in evidence, writes Rebell, Professor of Law and Education Practice and Executive Director of the Center for Educational Equity. “It’s a crisis that has caught up to us in many ways, and one we must work hard to reverse lest our representative government fall apart in future generations.” A link to the op-ed is here.

Michael A. Rebell: Professor of Law and Educational Practice

Rebell is the author of “Flunked: Schools, Courts & Civic Participation,” (University of Chicago Press).