Everyone wants the best education for their children. But parents and teachers don't always agree on how to get there. In this episode of the Let's Find Common Ground podcast, two education leaders discuss a transformational vision for U.S. education. Dr. Gisèle Huff is a philanthropist and longtime proponent of school choice, including charter schools. Becky Pringle spent her career in public education and serves as president of the National Education Association, the nation's largest labor union. This podcast was co-produced in partnership with Convergence Center for Policy Resolution and is one of a series of podcasts that Common Ground Committee and Convergence are producing together. Each highlights the common ground that resulted from one of Convergence's structured dialogues-across-differences.
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On National Civics Day we prepare to party at the polls
Sep 27, 2024
Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
It’s been almost five years since the Bridge Alliance, an organization that I co-founded, held its 2019 annual summit, attended by over 200 political and social change agents/leaders. The theme was strengthening democracy and evolving into the multicultural, pluralistic society that our founders envisioned but could not enact.
In preparation for the summit, we turned to pop culture to build the connection between participants who didn't know each other and who represented diverse backgrounds and opinions. We did so by crafting an agenda based on two songs from the Broadway show “Hamilton” — "My Shot" and "The Room Where It Happens."
These two songs embodied the political situation we found ourselves in five years ago and still do today. Those in the room felt the fierce urgency of that time coupled with the empowerment to make a difference in the nation, and the world, for the betterment of all.
Our country needs more inspiration today as we celebrate National Civics Day. The observance commemorates the date the Federalist Papers, which convincingly made the case for ratification of the Constitution, were first published on Oct. 27, 1787.
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The Federalist Papers were penned by three of the biggest political figures of the day — Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (although they published their writings anonymously).
In 1787, the trio was trying to convince the states to accept the Constitution. Right now, it’s critical that we convince our fellow citizens of the importance of voting. And many pop culture stars are doing just that, including Taylor Swift, who urged her followers to vote while endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 12.
“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most,” she wrote on Instagram.
And the cast of "Hamilton" has reengaged, re-writing one of Lin-Manuel Miranda's classic songs into a stirring tribute to democracy. Listen to this incredible song, “The Election of 2024,” and you’ll surely agree that it is time to “party at the polls.”
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Let this wonderful song spark our collective imagination of a people that embraces our diversity as the operating system of our nation. Despite our many frailties, America is exceptional because from the outset its citizens saw themselves as participants in an experiment that would have implications for all of mankind. Our task is far from complete, so tell your friends it’s time to party to the polls and make a difference for America
The video ends by directing viewers to a pair of organizations working hard to get people to vote.
VoteRiders is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their freedom to vote. VoteRiders informs and helps citizens to secure their voter ID as well as inspires and supports organizations, local volunteers, and communities to sustain voter ID education and assistance efforts. When We All Vote is a leading national, nonpartisan initiative created by Michelle Obama with a mission to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap.
You too can join the party by spreading the message.
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Voters’ ‘moral flexibility’ helps them defend politicians’ misinformation − if they believe the inaccurate info speaks to a larger truth
Sep 23, 2024
Kim is an assistant professor of management at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.
Many voters are willing to accept misinformation from political leaders – even when they know it’s factually inaccurate. According to our research, voters often recognize when their parties’ claims are not based on objective evidence. Yet they still respond positively, if they believe these inaccurate statements evoke a deeper, more important “truth.”
Our team conducted a series of online surveys from 2018 to 2023 with over 3,900 American voters. These surveys were designed to elicit responses about how they evaluated political statements from several politicians, even when they recognized those statements as factually inaccurate.
Consider former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Even among supporters who recognized that his claims about fraud were not grounded in objective evidence, we found that they were more likely to see these allegations as important for “American priorities”: for example, they believe the political system is illegitimate and stacked against their interests.
The same logic applies to factually inaccurate statements about COVID-19 vaccinations that President Joe Biden made, suggesting that vaccinated people could not spread the disease. In our surveys, voters who supported the president saw the statement as important for American priorities, despite recognizing its factual inaccuracy.
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Through these questions, we were able to uncover the criteria that guide voter behavior, depending on who makes which statement. Voters from both parties cared more about “moral truth” when they were evaluating a politician they liked. When evaluating a politician they didn’t like, on the other hand, voters relied more on strict factuality.
Our surveys documented how voters provide such justifications for their partisan standard-bearers, revealing a significant degree of “moral flexibility” in voters’ political judgment. I conducted this research with Oliver Hahl of Carnegie Mellon University, Ethan Poskanzer of the University of Colorado, and Ezra Zuckerman Sivan of MIT.
Why it matters
Conversations about how to combat misinformation often focus on the need for better fact-checking and education. However, our discovery illustrates the deeper but overlooked drivers behind voters’ tolerance and support for factually inaccurate statements. The findings suggest that misinformation survives not only due to voters’ “gullibility” but their moral calculations about whether partisan ends justify the means.
If voters are deliberately choosing to support misinformation because it aligns with their partisan perspectives, then providing factual corrections will not be enough to protect the democratic norm of grounding public policies in objective facts.
What still isn’t known
Our research leaves critical questions about how to combat such moral flexibility and its consequences.
To be sure, we do not see such moral flexibility as categorically wrong. As a society, for instance, we tend to think that telling kids that Santa Claus exists is unproblematic, because doing so protects certain values – such as children’s innocence and imagination.
But when it comes to public debate on an issue that should be based on objective evidence, moral flexibility limits the extent to which partisan groups can come to an agreement about facts, let alone what policy to derive from them.
What’s next
What can pull people on opposite sides of the political spectrum to cooperate with one another, if they cannot agree on what is factually correct?
There are likely more areas where partisan voters do agree with one another than the “culture war” narrative implies – and we hope to learn from them. In work in progress with sociologist Sang Won Han, we are studying lawmakers who frequently co-sponsor bills with politicians in the opposite party.
Sociologists Daniel DellaPosta, Liam Essig and I are also researching what contributes to politicians’ polarization in situations where opposite partisan voters actually do share a consensus. For example, a majority of both Democratic and Republican voters support background checks for gun purchases, while bills for such measures consistently fail to pass.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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The blessing of perspective
Sep 20, 2024
Savenor is a rabbi and executive director of Civic Spirit, a nonpartisan organization that provides training and resources to faith-based schools across the United States.
With the heated political discourse in our country and ongoing conflicts around the globe, I really needed a vacation. Vacations can serve many purposes — relaxation, exploration and reflection — and Panama seemed like a great place to unplug.
Panama had been in our sights since before the pandemic because of its lush rainforests, rich history and, of course, the Panama Canal, a manmade 51-mile waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. I was not prepared for the awe-inspiring magnitude of the canal, which David McCollough calls in his “The Path Across the Seas” a “vast, unprecedented feat of engineering … a sweeping human drama.” Sailing through the locks is an unforgettable experience that demonstrates humanity’s potential.
My most profound memory from this vacation was not, however, the canal — rather, a conversation I had with a citizen of Panama about their national flag. Divided into four quarters, the flag features three colors: red, white and blue. The red and blue represent the country’s political parties, but the blue star also stands for the purity and honesty of civic life and the red star represents the authority and law to ensure that these values are upheld. And the white space speaks of the yearning for peace to create a national home.
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When I remarked to my new friend how the Panamanian flag conjures associations of the United States flag, he explained that it was intentional. The United States not only played an instrumental role in the republic’s establishment in 1903, but America’s government and commitment to democracy continually serve as inspiration for their country.
Looking at the flag of Panama that day, I was reminded of the words of Ernest Hemingway: "Never write about a place until you're away from it, because that gives you perspective." At a moment when the headlines about polarization frequently cause us to shake our heads with bewilderment, the lofty ideals of our democratic republic can feel unachievable. And yet, this conversation and lesson about a foreign flag was a much-needed reminder of how the rest of the world sees our country. They look at the United States as a beacon of freedom, a land of economic opportunity and a protector of the rule of law.
The feedback from fellows in the Civic Spirit’s Educators Cohort shows that our professional development offerings not only enhance their civic content knowledge and pedagogical skills, but also increase their confidence to work in this vital, yet challenging, field. Thankfully the fellowship’s ongoing training and coaching provides teachers with encouragement and inspiration as they prepare the next generation to participate in and lead our democracy.
This week we celebrated Constitution Day. With the blessing of perspective, we recognize our visionary founding document as the cornerstone of our democracy and can appreciate the vital role our government plays as an example to other nations around the world.
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Do they even teach civics anymore?
Sep 19, 2024
Bobb is president and CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advances civic and history education.
We have all seen the ubiquitous “man on the street” interviews where young people struggle to identify the branches of government or their elected representatives. And the headlines announcing American students’ poor performance on national civics assessments are hard to miss.
Ultimately, this leads to a dreaded question many of us in the civic education space are asked too many times: Do schools even teach civics anymore?
For many American kids, particularly younger students, the simple answer is “no.” They are not being taught civics — or, in some cases, not enough civics to matter.
But let’s stop blaming the kids or their teachers. Instead, we all need to look in the mirror and reflect on what we expect from our schools and what it will take to drive meaningful change.
The lack of civic education among elementary students is particularly dire.
A 2018 study funded by the National Science Foundation found elementary classrooms only spend an average of 16-21 minutes a day on social studies. We can be reasonably certain that little — if any — of that time is devoted to civics.
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Years ago, the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies warned some elementary classrooms were spendingas little as 20 minutes a week on social studies, which the group’s president called a “serious civic crisis.”
And just last year, there was great dismay when the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, foundonly 22 percent of eighth graders scored proficient or above in civics.
But buried within that report were some more distressing truths.Less than half of eighth graders were taking a class mainly focused on civics or government, and only 29 percent had a teacher whose primary responsibility was teaching civics.
These eighth graders were all tested on civics, but whether some of them actually studied the topic in school is another matter.
At the Bill of Rights Institute, we work with more than 76,000 civics and history teachers nationwide. These are talented, capable teachers, working to help young people learn about our government, America’s founding principles, and their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
But many of these teachers are not getting enough support, and civics is often deprioritized and treated as an afterthought in the overall school curricula.
It is easy to cast blame for why civics is not being taught more in schools. Some point to a heavy emphasis on subjects like math or science, or even time-consuming federal and state mandates.
The more useful exercise is determining where we go from here.
Civic education provides students the unique opportunity to understand how our nation and communities function and their roles in civil society. They learn to think critically, engage civilly and internalize founding principles like liberty, justice and equality.
All students deserve this knowledge, not just some students.
Reprioritizing civics will require a groundswell of local support. Real change can only happen locally, where most decisions about curricula and resources are made.
We can all help create this groundswell.
As a first step, talk to local teachers about the specific challenges they face, in terms of resources, priorities or time, in incorporating more civics in the classroom. You will find many teachers share your frustrations.
Second, let school board officials and candidates know you want more time and resources invested in civic education.A 2021 study from researchers at Harvard, Northeastern, Northwestern and Rutgers found only 4 percent of individuals attended a school board meeting in the past six months.
We need more community members off the sidelines and in the game.
Our schools reflect our priorities, but we must communicate those priorities. If we want young people to become informed, civically engaged citizens, it is time to speak up and give civics the attention it deserves.
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For our returning citizens, poll workers can make all the difference
Sep 18, 2024
Desmond Meade is the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and serves on the Power the Polls Advisory Council.
Nearly six years ago, Florida voters went to the polls and overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights for millions of Floridians with past convictions. This historic achievement marked the single largest expansion of voting rights in our nation in half a century.
Since then, at the organization I lead — the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition — we have been working with our partners across the state to help as many of these returning citizens as possible regain their voice in our democracy. Despite numerous obstacles, including the state struggling to provide information to returning citizens about when their rights have been restored, we’re proud to have helped tens of thousands of these individuals vote over the last several years.
As a returning citizen myself, it’s been inspiring to see the progress we’ve made in empowering and engaging so many of our fellow Floridians. But I’ve also seen how ongoing uncertainty, coupled with the state’s highly publicized 2022 campaign to prosecute returning citizens for voting, has led to widespread fear about voting among returning citizens. These citizens — our friends and neighbors — don’t just deserve to have their rights restored in theory, they deserve the opportunity to participate fully and confidently in our elections.
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As we seek to ensure that the promise of Amendment 4 is fulfilled by every one of Florida’s 1.4 million returning citizens, one essential piece of the puzzle is having trained, informed, compassionate poll workers who are ready to support returning citizens and ensure they feel comfortable at the ballot box. Whether you’re in Florida or in another state, if you want to help make democracy real for the people in your community, there’s no better way than signing up now to be a poll worker for this year’s elections.
Each election cycle, hundreds of thousands of Americans vote either for the first time ever or — in the case of some returning citizens — for the first time in many years. For these voters, there’s usually a lot of excitement, but also sometimes a feeling of anxiety or uncertainty. For voters casting their ballots in person, poll workers are the ones we rely on to help make voting a smooth and enjoyable experience. They welcome voters to the polling place, get us checked in and provide the information we need to complete the voting process with confidence.
Poll workers exemplify a commitment to democracy and to serving our communities and neighbors. That’s why I’m proud to serve on the advisory council for Power the Polls, the leading nonpartisan poll worker recruitment initiative. Experts estimate that we will need about 1 million poll workers to ensure this year’s elections run smoothly. And though we’ve made a lot of progress toward this goal, there are still jurisdictions around the country — including several in Florida — that urgently need more people to sign up.
While poll workers will play an essential role in helping all voters take part in our elections this year, we know the unique logistical and legal dynamics involved for returning citizens mean these voters may need additional support and guidance. That’s why, at FRRC, we’re also training teams of returning citizens and attorneys to advise and assure potential voters of their rights at polling locations throughout Florida. These poll monitors will be tasked with identifying obstacles to voting by offering themselves as a resource to voters experiencing issues and reporting these issues to a team of election law experts, who will, in turn, assist voters in real-time.
We were thrilled to have 50 returning citizens serve on these poll monitor teams during Florida’s primary election in August, and we look forward to having even more take part in the program during the general election. The stories of these fellow returning citizens are inspiring — people who could not vote six years ago are now engaging in the election process as poll workers.
While the election is just around the corner (in fact, ballots have already been mailed in some states), there is still time to sign up to be a poll worker, and returning citizens in Florida and across the country are counting on us to step up. Together, we can ensure that all voters — no matter who they are, where they come from, or when they last cast a ballot — can play their full and equal part in our democracy.
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