A few lessons to include while SD is force-feeding civics

It seems that South Dakotans are going to be good citizens … or else. There are plenty of efforts to get us all to learn about civics: new social studies standards for the public schools, plans for a Civic Engagement Center at Black Hills State University and even new college course requirements.

One thing about being a journalist is that, like it or not, civic engagement is part of the job. Because of my job, I have been to more than my share of public meetings. Over the years I’ve learned some lessons that should be included in any sort of civics curriculum.

1. Keep your eyes and ears open.

As a reporter, I was from the Jack Webb, just the facts ma’am, school of writing. That meant avoiding too much capitalization or the overuse of certain punctuation marks. I mention that so you’ll know I mean it when I say that good citizenship starts with PAYING ATTENTION!

As a reporter and editor, I saw this scenario play out too many times: A city, school or county would have a big project that depended on more tax dollars and a vote of the people. They dutifully held multiple public meetings to discuss the options and provide their reasoning for the project. Of course someone — sometimes me — would have to cover those meetings for the newspaper.

Essentially that meant finding a different way to write the same meeting story three or four times. Then, when the public hearings were done, at its next meeting the council would get ready to vote. After all that outlay of public information, after all those news stories, there was always one person who would stand up at the meeting and say, “Now hold on. Where did all this come from? You can’t just spend that much money without discussing it with the people. We need public meetings. We need to get something in the newspaper.”

Good citizenship relies on doing something on your part to stay informed. Read the newspaper. Follow local government on Facebook. Talk to your neighbors. Do something. Just don’t be that bewildered guy who’s surprised when the county starts talking about raising his taxes.

2. Never underestimate the power of the purse strings.

The Civic Engagement Center at Black Hills State University was rejected in two different legislative sessions. Sure, the votes were close, but it’s likely some legislators were put off by their colleagues who seemed to want students to be more patriotic, even if they had to beat it into them. When some of them talked about the project, it seemed less like a Civic Engagement Center and more of a propaganda machine extolling the virtues of America.

Despite its rejection by lawmakers, the Joint Committee on Appropriations slipped Black Hills State University almost $1 million for the creation of the center. The votes in the House and Senate didn’t seem to matter. Now there’s a civics lesson. And how do we know about all this? Because a South Dakota Searchlight reporter was at the committee hearing PAYING ATTENTION. It’s not uncommon for these lessons to be connected.

3. There’s no power like executive power.

Sometimes there are civics lessons in the implementation of the very things that are supposed to be teaching us about civics. A case in point is the K-12 social studies standards set to be implemented next year. Those standards traveled a rocky road.

The first 40-member work group didn’t pan out, so Gov. Kristi Noem appointed a different 15-member group including a facilitator from that darling of conservatives, Hillsdale College in Michigan. The standards the new work group put together were the subject of four public hearings across the state and nearly 1,300 public comments. An estimate by South Dakota Searchlight said roughly 80% of the comments were opposed to the changes.

So much negativity didn’t stop the South Dakota Board of Education Standards — a group appointed by the governor — from approving the new standards on a vote of 5-2. Right after the vote, Noem and state Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves issued a news release saying how happy they were with the new standards. The lesson here: It’s good to be the governor.

4. We need to handle our civics with a little more civility.

Any sort of civics curriculum, in the public schools or the universities, should include a few lessons about the importance of good manners in civic affairs. Too often our public meetings, particularly on hot-button issues, can lack decorum. When the subject is banning library books or protecting property rights or investigating election integrity, emotions can run high and voices can get loud.

For an example of the right way to conduct a meeting, look no further than the committee hearings in the Legislature. Everyone gets a chance to speak, sometimes multiple times, but they do so with respect for the committee chair and the process.

Check that out while you can, because the budget cuts Noem has proposed have placed in jeopardy South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s ability to provide those committee hearings on the internet. If that comes to pass, it will amount to a civics lesson that the state of South Dakota has failed.