An associate U.S. Supreme Court justice, the chief judge of New York’s court system, a state senator, and the two leaders of the state education department were among the dignitaries who gave students their take on why teaching civics in the classroom is important during a day-long session at the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) headquarters in Albany. The event was entitled “NYSBA’s Convocation to Safeguard Our Democracy: Making the Case for Civic Education.” The wisdom shared at the event should be taken to heart to improve education throughout the state at all levels, whether in public schools, yeshivas, or other private schools.
“You will see that my vision of civic participation is not just participation in government or politics, but it is small and big projects that can make the world better. It is thinking about each action you take every day, every step of kindness that we extend to another person. It’s the moments we spend with someone who needs companionship. In every activity that we choose just because it’s the right thing to do we have to make our communities better,” Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor told high school students from western New York and the Albany area via a remote video connection from Washington, D.C. Sotomayor, 69, has been on the nine-member high court for 14 years and is considered one of the most liberal justices on the bench.
“There is the added difficulty of what happens when I wish I could play G-d,” the Catholic jurist shared. “Only G-d is moral. G-d tells you what is right or wrong morally…. The only fairness the judicial process can give you is the process itself, to treat you fairly, to give you access to the court, to tell you how to present your case and that [you] will be heard but…it sadly can’t guarantee you that the particular facts in your case will be dealt with in a way you feel is fair…. I believe in the process and I believe very deeply that I can’t play G-d. I have to let the system as it exists give people fairness in the process. The outcome has to be dictated by law.”
A five-person panel of educators gathered at the convocation to give their take on civics and how it is taught in the classroom. “Civics is about life in our democracy,” said Dr. Lester Young, chancellor of the state education department. “We are at an incredible moral moment. It is critically important that our young people have access to knowledge skills. [But] what’s most significant to civic engagement and civic readiness is that it is not just about knowledge and skills. It recognizes that what is also important is what young people are like. What you are like as a person really determines what you do with what you know. There is this emphasis on action, mindset, as well as experience.”
Young also questioned the vision for a high-quality education in New York state. “The vision and the values of America was really about hope. Where we are challenged is we really have not quite come to that. How do we realize that vision and value? We can’t do it unless we all focus very deliberately,” he said. “New York has some of the best schools on the planet. The problem is they are not available to everyone. Our challenge is how do we ensure that more of our young people have access. We believe a huge part of that is to ensure that civic readiness is included in that educational structure.”
New York State Education Commissioner Dr. Betty Rosa told students about the woven fabric of education. “I am not an isolationist. When you think about civics it should not be an isolated teaching process but it should be part of the total fabric. It should be part of math, English, every part of a student’s life should be civility,” Rosa stated. “When you think about issues of equity, when you think about inclusivity, when you think about teaching a sense of fairness, empathy – all of these amazing lessons that are part of civility and civics should really be incorporated every single minute and as every single part of instruction. A lot of times we tend to isolate these topics in separate ways. If you think about teaching civics as part of the holistic approach, I think you really end up in a better place,” she said.
The chairwoman of the state senate’s Education Committee, Senator Shelley Mayer (D – Yonkers, Westchester County), said there is money in the recently passed state budget to fund civics education. She gave her opinion about the role civics takes in a students’ life. “Now we have to figure out how to productively move money into civics education, but I don’t think we should have blinders on that we’re just looking for people to teach civics. As elected officials, we perceive this as a much broader conversation,” she explained. “We want students to engage in their community, we want to talk about electoral politics, we want them to know about issues that are relevant in their hometown. We are trying to go at it from a range of perspectives. It has not been easy. We don’t have control over curriculum, which is frequently perceived that we do in the legislature – that is a local matter in New York… We have the statute and then we have this focus on community and away from testing in order to ensure the students have a much broader range of knowledge of their responsibilities in a democracy.”
Mayer also discussed the contrast between the legislative branch and the executive branch of government. “My colleagues, elected officials, see this problem somewhat differently than the state education department and the chancellor and the commissioner who have their function, but we’re in a world where people either vote or don’t vote. We are in a world where there is such cynicism about the political process, the electoral process, the people who are elected,” she said. “We see it much more as a continuum. We recognize schools can’t solve every problem, but we are dealing with kids who are being educated by their parents who think that politics is corrupt. [That] the government doesn’t help anybody. [That] no one speaks to our problem. That is the culture we, as elected officials, are trying to confront more globally than just what happens in a school. For us, a school is just not isolated… We are worried, much more worried, about this dominant cynicism about our democracy that parents and kids share. If you talk to high school students who are not at the top of their class, not only do they think politics is corrupt and bad, but they’re really not very interested. We are trying to come up with creative ways to deal with that and I don’t think you can leave that out of the conversation.”
“There are civic equities and equity matters,” education commissioner Rosa said. “Civic equity is critical if we are going to move forward. We have to be honest and really put the language out there. There are teacher equity issues, building equity issues.”
Chancellor Young acknowledged that the state education system in New York is still a work in progress as it is not running as smoothly as it should be. “I actually think we spend too much time focused on the failures. We all know what is wrong. We can go out on any corner [and the people can] tell you what is wrong [with the education system]. Ask them what is right, ask them what are the strengths, ask them what are the indicators of what I just said. To me it’s really a question of concentration and having the courage to do the right thing,” he said. “You can’t use education solutions to solve political problems. We have got to be very careful and very clear that in the sphere of education we have to find education solutions. There may be a multitude of other problems that need to be solved, but let’s solve the ones we can solve.”
The chief judge of the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, offered his take on the importance of civics in the classroom. “Civics was the true cornerstone of our democracy and one that we let erode over the past several decades. Much to our detriment,” said Judge Rowan Wilson. “Myriad studies have drawn a direct line from a deficiency of civics education for our children to a deficiency in civic engagement when those children grow up. Although we have been slowly sliding towards this place of crisis for decades, recent and unprecedented technological innovations have hastened [its] arrival. The birth of the Internet and the creation of certain social media platforms strengthened undercurrents that were already pulling at the fabric of our society. An increasing loss of civic engagement and civic attachment, an increase of distrust in government, and an increasingly ill-informed populace accustomed to obtaining information from haphazard and unreliable sources – those technologies have fundamentally and permanently altered our society and they are here to stay.”
Wilson, 63, has been the state’s top judge since April 18, 2023. He is the first African-American to serve as chief judge. “Our children lack basic civic knowledge because we have removed it from the curriculum,” he noted. “Until the 1970s, it was common for high-schoolers to take three different courses focused on civics and government. Civics is about the rights and responsibilities of citizens including at the local and state level and government, about the structure and function of the national government, states, and problems with democracy about current issues and events. All this, in addition to a U.S. history course. If we wish to revitalize our democracy and reestablish faith in it, restoring a robust civics curriculum is the clear starting point,” he stressed.
Sotomayor offered a tale of caution about the next big change in society. “Every student in the room has to know that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is revolutionizing the world. It’s going to take over jobs in so many professions. It may not take over lawyering completely but it is going to change a lot of the ways of how we lawyer. AI is going to change things dramatically. I don’t think all the work is going to be done by AI but there is already a lot of work AI is doing for people,” she told the students. “I would counsel you to try to be a little less anxious about your futures. That doesn’t mean you don’t do research, think about the pros and cons of decision-driven thinking, but in the end make a decision…commit to that decision and make the best of wherever you go and whatever you choose to do. Consider your choices and make the most of whatever you do.”
