"To overcome intolerance and bigotry, students must possess the capacity for empathy and understanding that reading fiction fosters. Literature courses don’t teach students every fact about our government, but they do cultivate the civic virtues required to sustain our democracy." Mike Kalin   This is an exceptional piece. I normally would add my own two... Continue Reading →

Even though this program has been running for more than thirty years, one could certainly argue that during that period of time it is more important now than ever. Program Description We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is an instructional program on the principles of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights... Continue Reading →

"Democracy – not economic development, not career preparation, or self-actualization – must stand foremost again as the animating purpose of college." W. Taylor Reveley IV,  President of Longwood University in Virginia. This is one of my mantras. Civic ignorance in this country is appalling. There are institutional reasons for this but there are other reasons... Continue Reading →

"A recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that only one in four Americans can name all three branches of government. One in three can’t name any."--- https://www.heraldandnews.com/members/forum/wire_commentary/decline-of-civics-education-in-schools-hurts-good-government/article_801ac42d-ebcd-5b29-8d97-e640a4b81edb.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

"I strongly believe that none of the public policy problems we face in our nation — from the federal government’s rollbacks of civil rights enforcement to the need to increase access to quality preschool — can be solved without an informed and engaged citizenry." by John B. King, Jr. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-1231-king-column-20171227-story.html

    Professor Hill is a man after my own heart.  The level of national civic ignorance is not only appalling, it's frightening. I have published my own articles on this very same subject. https://patimes.org/civics-lost-no-apparent-priority-education/ . I've even approached our local K-12 system about the problem and suggested programmatic methods that brings a greater focus... Continue Reading →