For vital civics classes, the county is the wrong professor

A county bid to teach civics is the right idea in the wrong venue. We do need civics classes, but the county is the wrong teacher.

A vote this week would order Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to create an Academy for Civics Education, fund it, staff it, develop a curriculum, promote it, and have classes going by Dec. 1.

That’s a Herculean effort for an educational system. For a metropolitan government that already faces vast challenges and has no educational component, it borders on impossible, at best a slapdash mishmash.

Don’t get me wrong: I agree 100% with the heartfelt call by Commissioners Marleine Bastien and René García to add civics education. Too few adults comprehend government from Washington to town hall. Even fewer participate. And lack of understanding adds to unhealthy fragmentation of our democracy.

As US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said, “Civic education, like all education, is a continuing enterprise and conversation. Each generation has an obligation to pass on to the next, not only a fully functioning government responsive to the needs of the people, but the tools to understand and improve it.”

We applaud the commissioners seeking to fulfill their obligation to pass on the tools of civic understanding. They have just chosen the wrong path.

They note correctly that in Miami’s melting pot many of us didn’t go to Florida schools that offered civics and need “a better understanding about how government works, which can be done through civics education” that “may increase their civic engagement.”

They want the mayor to make that work, with virtual and in-person courses accessible to non-native English speakers. 

Classes would have to deal with all three branches of federal, state and local governments; checks and balances, voting and the jury system, and “educate the community on Miami-Dade County government and the policy making process,” and discuss “administrative or political offices and public service.”

Commissioners would review the curriculum and a list of “partners that assist the county with the academy, the type of assistance the entities provided and the amount of funding, if any, the county provided said entities.” 

The need for civics knowledge is clear, but this program could fall off the rails.

First, the county should not be teaching how it relates to other governments. That conflict of interest could undercut the program. Take, for example, the legal war between the county and state for control of expressways. How could the county be impartial? 

Second, with commissioners checking on “educators,” how would the roles and performance of commissioners be taught? Would explanations be slanted? It’s likely.

Third, a government has little credibility telling how important it is. The class is for people who don’t know civics, not people who don’t recognize propaganda when they hear it.

Next, who would train civic minds, paid professionals or members of one political party or another? The program must teach about “political offices.” The parties would do it for nothing – and the program would be worth what we paid for it.  

Teaching is harder than it sounds. Educators need to know how to impart information, but they also must know the subject. Most Americans don’t know enough about civics to teach it. Nor are most county administrators trained in education and qualified to design this complex curriculum.

For example, should class levels depend on the prior education of the students? How do you tailor it for Miami’s multiple native languages, even if it’s taught primarily in English?

The legislation doesn’t target enrollment goals but it mentions multiple venues as well as virtual education. Nor does it say how long classes would last – one meeting or a full semester or what? 

Would success be to offer a class one night in two places and have 20 of the county’s 2.8 million people attended? A million of us could profit from more civic education, and the community would be better off if a million of us took a good civics course. So where is the target, closer to 20 or a million? You could offer a doctorate in civics or teach it like traffic school – just attend an hour and who cares if you learn anything.

Size and scope depend on funding. Today there is none. The mayor is told to find some. It’s unlikely she can find enough to staff and promote more than a handful of classes. There is no indication that there will be formal graduates, just classes.

This all sounds like a musical comedy where one character says to the other, “I have an idea, let’s put on a play” and a great show ensues. But civics is too serious and far too important to be musical comedy. 

If this resolution does pass, there is one hope: it gives the mayor power to bring in partners to produce this sketchy effort. Logical partners are either the public schools or Miami Dade College, both of which are highly skilled at education at all levels, including adult education, and both of which already have civics education. Just hand the program to them.

This resolution is a valid idea but woefully misplaced: we desperately need civics education, but the public mistrusts government at every level and is unlikely to seek its teachings. 

If you want people to attend civics classes voluntarily and successfully, ask an educational institution that believes in the importance of educated voters in our democracy to take on the challenge of enlarging that base. We would wholeheartedly applaud.