Read the full article on Nebraska Examiner
As Nebraska’s primary election season closed and the long slog toward November began, an essay from a constitutional scholar in which she essentially called for the adults to take back the room got my attention.
Julie Silverbrook is the chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Her piece appeared originally in Fulcrum. You can find it at https://is.gd/uNWz8.
Silverbrook argues that “civic parenting,” if I’m understanding the term correctly, is the responsibility of parents — actually all adults — to teach and model for the nation’s children what it takes to be an informed, engaged and participatory citizen in a democracy. She believes we should not rely on our schools — many of whom no longer offer civics as a class — to be our children’s sole source of civic education, that it is incumbent on adults to stress the importance of our institutions, our rights and responsibilities and the power of our community involvement.
Silverbrook’s ideas came into full relief when I read that Omaha State Sen. Kathleen Kauth said there is no “such thing as a moderate Democrat in this political environment.” Seriously? None?
Even giving the senator some wiggle room for exaggeration because she was at a GOP primary election night watch party where the glow of partisan politics burned bright, her wholly inaccurate broadside reflects a deepening problem. I say that as someone who has never been a Democrat nor written checks to the Democratic party or its candidates.
To be fair, Senator Kauth’s comment was not only a drop in a sea of inaccuracies that are part and parcel of today’s political campaigns, the embellishment was far from unusual — from any political persuasion. We too often excuse them as acceptable hyperbole. Without getting any more persnickety about political speech than the fussbudget I already am, I’m not sure we can afford to do that anymore.
Seen through Silverbrook’s lens, three problems come to mind, all of which are solvable.
For starters, why add to the steaming pile of misinformation to which we are exposed daily from the White House, state capitols and coffee shops and over the internet, podcasts and backyard fences? Most troubling is how such inaccuracies invariably find their way into what we trust as our sources of news and information. We’ve become a nation where it’s now common to simply make stuff up to see if it sticks, sells or gets likes, true or not.
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That ups the ante for parents and schools who can find competing with TikTok or well-oiled propaganda machines difficult. Throw in the wonder of AI and its troubling hallucinations and slop, deep fakes, the endless effluvium on the web and armies of inveterate liars invested in adding to the mountain of misinformation around which we must navigate.
While space aliens, Elvis and Yetis used to be standard fakery fare, our modern favs run more to politics, such as rigged presidential elections, the efficacy of counting ballots by hand and widespread “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Given those realities, the results are about what you would expect. According to lab coats at the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 22% of eighth-grade students are proficient in civics. Before we start screaming about our wayward youth, check out their parents’ proficiencies.
According to statistics from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, only about a quarter of Americans feel confident explaining our system of government. That number comes after research at the Annenberg Policy Center indicated Americans have actually improved a little in their knowledge of civics since 2024.
Second, when we traffic in misinformation, exaggeration or other forms of baloney — especially in an election cycle — we dilute, diminish and distort the real issues. Much has been written about the advent of the “low-information voter,” whose X in the ballot box can be skewed by a lack of information or its quality. We should be insisting that political campaigns spend less time in the ad hominem sludge and more time giving us accurate, vetted and verifiable data so voters can make clear and informed decisions.
As voters, we also have a responsibility to seek such information.
Finally, schools abandoning robust civics curricula surely has had an effect on the knowledge and engagement of young people in political and community activities. That, according to Silverbook’s premise, makes it incumbent on us adults to “parent” in a way that explains and encourages the ideas and importance of civics not only in politics but in our daily lives as well.
We can start with some information accuracy … in case any children are watching. Pro tip: They are.
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