Civics class?

[Euro]

i heard they don't require/teach it anymore?? is this true??

my one year in a school in america was in 1996-1997 in new jersey. it was mandatory that all 8th grade students take civics. i personally greatly enjoyed it as i recall.

i thought it was universally mandatory? it saddens me the number of americans who don't even know how their own country works.

so, what's the scoop?

[budaho]

when i was in high school it was still somekind of a requirment i think, but they satisfied it by setting aside 1 month of one quater of wa state history for it. real in depth...

[IrisSilverMoon]

I never took a civics class, and there isn't much of an age difference between us.

probably depends on where you went to school.

[B_tech]

It was mandatory when I was in HS in Chicago in the early 90s, but my brother didn't have to take one, when he went to HS in CA in the late 90s.

[dislocatedlogic]

Originally posted by budaho
when i was in high school it was still somekind of a requirment i think, but they satisfied it by setting aside 1 month of one quater of wa state history for it. real in depth... It was the same in our district. I think they might have cut the classes entirely by the time I graduated.

[djsence]

I graduated in 97 and never took no syinking Civics class.

[meeotch]

I didn't realize that it was called "civics," but to graduate from my high school, US Government was the required social studies for 12th grade (geography for 9th, world history for 10th, US History for 11th). Granted, I didn't go to a "normal" high school, but still, I also thought that it was a requirement for graduation, and kinda' seems like it should be.

[meeotch]

This kind of reminds me: I hear statistics on news programs about American citizens and what they know about geography and government, and it seems so astounding I have a hard time believing them. For instance, last night on the Daily Show, the guest was saying something about how only 1 in 5 Americans know the 3 branches of government (or that there even are three) and that like 2 in 7 can find Iraq on a map. Do you guys really believe that, or is it just a little bit of sensationalism to sell a book? Just who are they polling anyways?

[Euro]

totally... mind you, i was in a uber posh prep school (thus why i only stayed a year lol), but the subject matter we covered was so critical i felt, i thought it had to be mandatory.

we covered stuff like how the electoral college works (and it's history), the supreme court, checks & balances, miranda rights, etc etc etc

all stuff that's pretty important if you want to understand how america works and why it is the way it is...

[gingerballs]

I enjoyed Civics.

We also had CWP. Current World Problems.

[Nukegrrrl]

At my preppy high school, in the mid 90's outside of Seattle, civics was an option that students could select from a menu of quarterly social studies courses, like sociology, current events or debate. It wasn't one of the courses that was required by the state, like US history or WA state history - those were mandatory and took up a whole year. I took sociology but there was a lot of civics crammed in there and the mandatory social studies/history courses, too.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by Euro


we covered stuff like how the electoral college works (and it's history), the supreme court, checks & balances, miranda rights, etc etc etc
.

oh that class...i guess it was called US government at my school.

def. required, you took it as a senior, i loved the teacher, he was our class advisor.

[Effendi]

http://www.auto123.com/ArtImages/94529/1975-Honda-Civic-CVCC.jpg

[gingerballs]

waka waka waka.

[Cethe]

lol scott...haha

yeah we had to take some sort of socio polotical class before grad. but there were like 3-4 options to satisfy that.

[Ratboy]

They had civics even back when I went to school..


I had that EXACT car scott

but no i graduated in 84 and i never had civics class, i did hafta take economics and us government tho... our economics teacher was creepiest guy in the world

[seattle science]

Originally posted by Ratboy
i did hafta take us government tho

I think you did take civics, after all.

[wingnut]

There should be civic involvement classes with credit for getting involved in local volunteering and politics. It's sad that most people, especially young people, don't know or care what goes on in their city or country and don't think to get involved in any way.

[Gucci Smoochies]

Originally posted by Effendi
http://www.auto123.com/ArtImages/94529/1975-Honda-Civic-CVCC.jpg

My first car was a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback thankyouvery much.

And I had to take a civics-like class before I was able to graduate in 2000. Mr. Whitesell, Junior Year. I fucking hated that class because he had the worst jokes evar and all the preppy girls fawned over him for some reason.