POSTCARDS FROM THE FRONT
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they do not embed civic skills or values deeply into student culture because the same minority of engaged students tends to avail themselves of these opportunities. Students who are not aware of the world around them and do not see a role for themselves in public life manage to stay disengaged with relative ease— simply by tuning out an assembly speaker or two and declining invitations to get involved. If the goal is popularizing a civics mindset in student culture as a whole, these programs aren’ t designed to move the ball across that line. Only the re-introduction of civics into the curriculum can do that.
Civics is best learned and practiced within a small, trusted peer group that meets regularly to discuss current events, practice communication and interpersonal skills, and share common experiences of volunteerism out in the world. The CCCE is currently gearing up, then, for its most important sales pitch to date.
Next fall, the school will pilot a semester-long course called‘ Foundations: Skills for Community Citizenship.’ This course represents a new phase of greater influence for the CCCE in the experience of all Upper School students. Our Middle School offers a robust civics experience but, because the ninth grade welcomes a large number of new students, fully half of Rivers students currently graduate without any civics instruction unless they opt into one of two advanced History courses. In contrast, Foundations will be a mandatory semester-long seminar for all tenth graders. Tenth grade is also the year in which our students take U. S. History and the
“ Civics is best learned and practiced within a small, trusted peer group that meets regularly to discuss current events, practice communication and interpersonal skills, and share common experiences of volunteerism out in the world.”
new seminar will create a personal context for that historical knowledge and inspire students to see themselves as actors in contemporary society.
Writing the Foundations curriculum has been a joyously collaborative experience. Several years ago, the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion( DEI), the Director of Global Studies, the Director of Community Engagement, and I realized how much our programs shared in terms of mission and methodology and the extent to which our programs reinforced and built upon one another. For example, social-emotional and DEI programs, which teach self-awareness and social awareness, must precede and prepare students for productive community engagement— whether those communities are local, national, or global. Over the past year, the four of us met weekly to write lesson plans and share best practices from each
Page 10 Summer 2021 CSEE Connections