On July 4, schools should celebrate a fourth ‘R’: reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic and rectitude

Before lighting the grill or watching fireworks, celebrants of the 250th anniversary of our country should think about the meaning of the Declaration of Independence.

And then think again. Our nation has strayed far from the purposes of the Founding Fathers.

I haven’t read a better book in recent years than “Pursuit of Happiness,” by Jeffrey Rosen. It tells how the Founding Fathers held the pursuit of virtue as the central guiding principle for our democracy. The quest was to be good, not feel good.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago: Journalist Ezra Klein recounted his conversation with a history scholar who instructs us that, generations ago, being liberal was not just about believing in, or working toward, a certain political design: “It was actually more about moral development and certain character development that they [our forebearers] felt was so very important.”

Can civic and character education in public schools — which have been around for decades — bring us closer to the aspirations of the Founding Fathers? In the face of the right-wing cultural warriors who are dominating public discussion of public education, we need more than ever to restore shared values and norms.

The good news is that civic education is on the upswing nationally. The headline in a recent op-ed article in The New York Times was “Nothing beats polarization like civic education.”

Civic education has largely subsumed character education. In technical terms, civic education tends to focus on preparing students to be good citizens, and character education focuses more on personal virtues and moral development. But they overlap.

Among states, Maryland has been a leader in civic education, starting with service-learning. Maryland was the first state to mandate that every public school student complete at least 75 hours of service-learning in the community.

The main delivery method now is civics instruction within social studies curricula from prekindergarten through high school. State standards are accompanied by guidelines to achieve consistency across local school districts.

Social/emotional programs are other rapidly growing factors in the civic and character education equation. SEL, as they are known, are designed to enable students to make ethical, constructive choices about personal and social behavior and show understanding and empathy for others. SEL is supposed to be incorporated in classroom interventions for students struggling with social/emotional difficulties.

What else can be done now to strengthen civic education?

First, we must make sure that schools teach not preach. Ideologues, particularly on the right, must not be allowed to try to brainwash students with extremist views.

By the same token, liberals must not seek to indoctrinate students in their own political beliefs.

In Maryland, the state Department of Education can enhance its excellent standards, praised by the Maryland Civic Education Coalition of advocates and practitioners. Enhancement can be done through more state guidance, including best practices and teacher training.

At the same time, a big obstacle is that, like in other states, time allocated to social studies, including civic education, is being crowded out by high priority literacy and math initiatives. These initiatives put enormous pressure on local districts to reduce time for social studies (and other subjects). The Maryland Council for Social Studies calls for protected instructional time for social studies and science.

The balancing act over time allocations will be much more difficult in the early grades since foundational reading and math skills usually make or break later school success. In higher grades, there is more time for social studies courses and to infuse social studies into other courses, especially reading; both options are supported by some favorable evidence of positive outcomes.

What’s certain is that civic education can help to turn the tide against the Trump anti-democratic crusade that seeks to enshrine self-interest and greed ahead of the greater good and community well-being. Our north star for national renewal must be the moral development and civic virtue that the Founding Fathers sought and utilized to get our country going in the first place.

That would really be something to celebrate!