Inequality in wealth, income, educational attainment and access to many essentials such as proper healthcare and basic safety is well documented in numerous studies. Access inequity in high-quality civic preparation is one such condition that arguably contributes to many of these outcomes through a domino effect. Young people who receive high-quality civic learning experience are democratic actors, capable of evaluating available information to formulate a plan for addressing public problems and execute the plan well while working with other stakeholders with varying interests. If a given neighbourhood or community is filled with these democratic actors, then that community should be able to fare better in challenging times and address numerous challenges that arise. In fact, previous studies have found that, on various outcomes, communities with strong civic engagement and social cohesion fare better than those that are not (Knight Foundation, 2010; Kawashima-Ginsberg et al, 2012; Sampson, 2013). Furthermore, individuals who are civically involved show better health and economic outcomes, even after controlling for various socioeconomic factors (Kim, Kim and You, 2015). It follows, then, that a society full of these thriving civic communities would, in turn, have more representative government representatives who make decisions that elevate all of its members. This rationale is why the first public school systems in the US prioritised civic education as its central mission (Mann, 1849).

What is the problem?

In recent decades, civic education has not only been inadequate but also severely inequitable, causing many Americans to be unprepared and distrustful of constitutional democracy itself. Among many causes of political polarisation and institutional and intergroup distrust in the US is likely a lack of civic preparation and civic practice among Americans (Pew Research Center, 2019, 2021). On the one hand, there are some indications that basic civic knowledge (being able to name three branches of the US government and say what their basic rights are) is held by a higher proportion of Americans than several years ago (Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2021). On the other, only 59 per cent recall taking a civics course in high school (Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2021).