Not All California Schools Get the Same Civics Lessons. Here's Why

At some high schools in California, civics is everywhere. It’s part of science and history classes. It’s after school at student council and newspaper meetings. It even happens outside of school, on field trips to the Capitol and volunteer projects in the community. And after four years, it’s recognized with a gold seal on students’ diplomas.

But most California high school students don’t have those opportunities. Lower-income students and those in politically mixed — or “purple” — areas where parent pushback is more common often miss out on a comprehensive education on how government works and why it matters. Voter turnout among adults nationwide might reflect that disparity in civic engagement, although there are many factors that influence people’s decision to vote and be civically engaged.

The stakes are high, as misinformation and mistrust in government are on the rise, and the country reflects on a particularly divisive election season.

“At a time when we need civics the most, it’s become harder to deliver for everyone,” said Joseph Kahne, an education professor at UC Riverside who’s extensively studied civics education in California.

All high school students in California are required to take a one-semester government course to graduate. But there’s wide variation in how schools teach that class. For example, some of those classes include hands-on projects that show how the Constitution is relevant today, while others adhere to dry textbook material that’s less engaging.

Many lower-income students don’t have access to extracurricular activities, the backbone of civics education outside the classroom. Schools that mostly serve lower-income students are less likely to have those activities because they typically require resources like a faculty advisor or money for materials. Nearly 60% of wealthier schools, for example, have a student news outlet, while only 39% of lower-income schools do, RAND found. Eighty-five percent of wealthier schools have a student council, but only 73% of lower-income schools do.

Even at wealthier schools, there’s a disparity in who participates. Lower-income students tend to have after-school jobs or family obligations, so they can’t take advantage of the same opportunities as their wealthier classmates.

“Civics education needs to be woven into the existing school day, in all subjects, so it’s accessible to all students,” said Michelle Herczog, program director of Californians for Civic Learning, which promotes civic education for all grades. “That’s the only way to make it equitable.”

The inequities are reflected in adults’ rates of civic engagement nationwide. Americans from both parties who are financially secure are more likely to vote, volunteer, trust election results and support democracy, according to the Urban Institute. Latinos are especially affected. According to the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at UCLA, Latinos have the lowest voter registration rate of any ethnic group.

“We know that some groups of people are less likely to be civically engaged. It isn’t fair to have your voice not heard,” Kahne said.

Empathy and activism in San Lorenzo

Some schools that serve low-income students have embraced civics education even without a surplus of funding. Students in Judy Smith’s civics classes at San Lorenzo High in the East Bay spend their days delving into issues they care about: homelessness, air pollution, police brutality, drug abuse and other topics.

After spending a few weeks learning the nuts-and-bolts of government and democracy, students pick their research topics and set about their plans for addressing the issues. They grill politicians, survey their classmates, write letters to government officials and present their findings to the community.

On a recent morning, students were busy debating the subtleties of various policies, and poring over survey results. In a week they were scheduled to make their presentations in the school library, and Smith encouraged them to wear professional attire for the occasion.

Armando Espinoza, a senior, said the class has been life-changing. His group was looking into gun violence and its impact on young people, exploring existing laws and legal failures to restrict firearms, especially ghost guns.

“At the beginning of the year, it was like, oh, this is just for a grade,” he said. “But as I started learning more, I got engaged in how this problem affects our community. No teenager should have to live through a shooting. For me, it’s been empowering.”

His classmate Moniba Hussain said she chose the topic because gun violence is what drove her family from Oakland to the quiet, working-class community of San Lorenzo. Talking to politicians and debating laws with her classmates brought the issue into focus.

“We learn that it could be us someday, affected by a shooting,” Hussain said. “This class has pushed us to be more passionate about issues in our community. We learn how issues affect people. We learn empathy.”

She was so inspired by the class, in fact, she’s decided to become a lawyer.

Meanwhile, another group of students was researching domestic violence against immigrant women, an issue that resonates in a community where more than a third of families are immigrants. Surveying more than 120 classmates, the students learned that 59% had either been a victim of domestic violence or knew someone who was, yet very few knew that there was help available for women who need it.

That told them that outreach needed improvement.

“Women need to know there’s support for them, that they won’t be deported,” said senior Shary Cetino. “But what we learned is that there really needs to be more outreach and awareness. That’s what we’re hoping for.”

Pushback from parents

For students in politically mixed areas of California, the obstacle isn’t money — it’s often parents. Purple areas tend to see more political conflicts, which often play out at schools in the form of parental protests over “woke” curriculum, trans students’ rights or so-called culture war issues. In a 2023 RAND survey, two-thirds of teachers nationwide said they limit discussions of politics and social issues in the classroom for fear of being attacked by parents and not supported by their administrators.

“Among some parents, on the left and right, there’s a fear that civics education includes indoctrination,” said Keri Doggett, vice president of Teach Democracy, which promotes civic education. “Both Democrats and Republicans support civics education. So it’s important, now maybe more than ever, to provide a balanced point of view with multiple perspectives so students can reach their own conclusions.”

Shawn Healy, senior policy director at the nonprofit iCivics, which provides civics curriculum, said that declining trust in institutions is at the crux of the debate. Why teach about elections, for example, if elections are rigged? But civics education “is not about teaching blind allegiance to these institutions,” he said, “It’s about improving these institutions.”

“That’s what makes this work difficult,” Healy added. “There’s a sense that there’s a political agenda, that schools are trying to lead students in one direction or another. The reaction has been to pull back.”

Addressing controversial issues in class is a core part of civics education, Healy said. It’s how students learn to articulate their viewpoints about important issues, listen to those they don’t agree with and even occasionally change their minds. Avoiding classroom debates is “educational malpractice,” he said.

Giving students a voice

At Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina in the San Gabriel Valley, social studies teacher Sheila Edwards has been able to minimize pushback from parents by inviting them into the classroom, sharing lesson plans and generally being transparent about what happens in the classroom.

Edwards leads her classes in monthly “civil dialogues,” where students study multiple sides of an issue, such as Supreme Court rulings or the practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school, and then debate their viewpoints. The general rules, created by students, are that speakers should be polite, attack ideas and not people, and not monopolize the discussion.

“When students create their own guidelines and lead the conversations, I’ve found that they really buy into it,” Edwards said. “When you give them a voice, they will use it.”

As an adviser for the National Constitution Center, a national civics education organization, Edwards has trained hundreds of teachers to lead class discussions of contentious issues. She advises teachers to stick to the facts, whether it’s curriculum standards or primary sources like party platforms or the Declaration of Independence, rather than focus on individuals. If a student says they like a politician, for example, she asks them to talk about specific issues instead of their support for the person generally.

Still, it’s always dicey discussing issues like gun control or LGBTQ rights in classrooms, she said, especially in conservative areas. She often hears from teachers who feel beleaguered because of pushback from parents.

“It’s a hard time to be a teacher, social studies teachers in particular,” said Edwards, who’s been a teacher for three decades. “We are on the hot seat. But I like to think of it as an opportunity.”

Struggles in California

Nationwide, 24 states have strengthened their civics education programs in the past few years, and the federal government has quadrupled its grant money for civics education in the last decade.

The picture in California is less rosy.

Five years ago, California adopted a “seal of civic engagement” for high school students as an incentive for schools to beef up their civics programs. Modeled on the state’s popular seal of biliteracy, the civics seal allows students to receive a badge on their diplomas indicating that they understand how government and citizenship works, and have researched and taken action on a problem that affects their community. The seal is meant to make the student more competitive on college and job applications.

But last year, just 2% — or 11,000 — of graduating seniors received a seal. Only 86 districts, out of 1,000, participated. The state paperwork is fairly simple, Herczog said, but money and potential backlash from parents is often a deterrent. Although there are plenty of free and low-cost options available, some hands-on civics projects cost money, whether it’s for teacher training or for hiring a bus to take students to the capitol, and districts are reluctant to commit to new expenses.

“Who wouldn’t love getting a seal on their diploma? Students love it, but sometimes it comes down to district leadership,” Herczog said.

In addition, a number of bills to strengthen civic engagement have failed in recent years. One would have created a new position at the California Department of Education to help school districts build their seal of civic engagement programs. Another would have required schools to offer hands-on civics projects to complement their textbook lessons, beginning in elementary school. Both bills died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

“California absolutely has a ways to go,” Healy said.

Change might be tough to come by. While some states teach civics as a year-long course, that’s not likely to happen in California because students’ schedules are so packed with other requirements. Anything that requires money, even if it’s minimal, is likely to face opposition in the current budget climate.

But advocates need to persist, Herczog said, because there’s a lot at stake.

“The future of our democracy is threatened if civic education is not made a priority,” she said. “But it takes wisdom and bold leadership to make it happen.”

Smith, the San Lorenzo High civics teacher, started including hands-on projects in her civics class 15 years ago, but expanded it to include media literacy recently when she noticed the rise of misinformation on social media and in public discourse. She wanted her students to understand how to research issues they care about, and know how to lobby for change.

“I get lots of help, but it’s extra work and I do have high standards for the students. I want them to push themselves,” Smith said. “There are so many skills they need to be effective participants in our democracy. My hope is that this class plants the seeds.”