Dossier

TEDxSanDiego 2011 - Richard Dreyfuss - Bring Back Civics to the Classroom

Jan argues that Civics education is a crucial, undervalued subject because it teaches practical governance, enabling citizens to understand their role as the final authority accountable to the nation. The central claim is that America's success relies on this civic knowledge—which equips the populace for self-governance—and the strongest evidence is citing the Bill of Rights as a unique, profound constitutional restraint placed on government power.

## Speakers & Context
- **Speaker:** Jan, acting as an advocate for education reform.
- **Context:** Addressing the perceived decline in American civic understanding and the lack of robust Civics education in modern schooling.

## Theses & Positions
- Civics education is vital because it teaches "how to run the country before it's their turn to run the country."
- The ultimate goal of education is to achieve the "mobility of mind."
- Civics should teach "realistic practical political power... not empty words but with the full powers of the Constitution and the legal Authority that stems from it."
- The American system, particularly the Bill of Rights, is revolutionary because it describes what the government is restrained from doing to its own people.
- The functioning of American democracy depends on the principle that citizens are "mature enough emotionally to share space with those with whom they disagree."
- The educational goal is to ensure "enough people to get the best possible education so that the country can be handled in governance and Industry and Science and the Arts by the best and the brightest and the rest are are educated engaged Ed and of value."

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Civics:** Fundamentally defined as governance; the only class where "the ruler and the ruled could be one thing."
- **Mobility of Mind:** The goal of education; the ability to think flexibly and learn to process complex ideas.
- **Posterity:** Defined by the speaker as "you and your kids."

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **American Revolution:** Not just a war of independence, but a process where the people were "asked to run the nation."
- **Learning Governance:** Civics teaches the citizenry that "they are the final Authority that they are the ones to be answered to."
- **Democratic Function:** Requires "civility descent debate opposing views" as tools to control the "worst of man's nature."
- **Meritocracy:** The principle that individuals have the opportunity to "rise and lift your station in life to start something fail and start something else."

## Named Entities
- **American Bar Association** — organization endorsing the proposed solution.
- **Common Core** — educational standard/initiative.
- **Common Cause** — organization endorsing the proposed solution.
- **Rotary** — organization endorsing the proposed solution.
- **Studies Weekly** — publication endorsing the proposed solution.
- **National Association of Secondary School principles** — professional body endorsing the proposed solution.
- **Girl Scouts** — used as a metaphor for America's ideals.

## Numbers & Data
- The Bill of Rights: A document detailing what the government is *restrained* from doing.
- **13,000 years of human history:** Claimed as the time period America was the first body of people to offer mobility and opportunity.

## Examples & Cases
- **The Constitutional Basis:** The Constitution and its Preamble are cited as foundational legal authority.
- **The Bill of Rights:** Presented as a revolutionary guide to the nation's "future moral character."
- **The Opportunity Model:** Being able to "say what you want do what you want so long as your fist is not in my face."
- **American Political Miracle:** The ability to offer "Mobility, Freedom and opportunity" in 13,000 years.
- **The Failure Scenario:** Without proper education, the country "will be run by someone who will run it for their own interests."

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **The Constitution and its Preamble:** The fundamental legal documents governing the nation.
- **Bill of Rights:** The specific declaration of rights and restraints on government power.
- **Civics Class/Curriculum:** The specific educational tool/subject advocated for.
- **The Drus Initiative:** The speaker's founded solution designed to address the educational gap.

## References Cited
- The American Bar Association.
- Common Core.
- Common Cause.
- Rotary.
- Studies Weekly.
- National Association of Secondary School principles.
- Girl Scouts.

## Counterarguments & Caveats
- **Common Excuses for Cutting Civics:** "There aren't enough hours in the day," "our kids can't handle the complexities of the issue," or "we can't afford it."
- **Rebuttal:** These excuses are "an insult to us and to those people who died for those values."

## Methodology
- **Advocacy:** Using persuasive speaking to argue for systemic educational change.
- **Diagnosis:** Identifying the current deficiency—the removal of deep civic education.
- **Prescription:** Implementing mandatory, deep teaching of Civics, Debate, Opposing Views, and Civil Descent.

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Parents should ask their children: "Is civics being taught...?"
- Parents should lobby the local superintendence: "so they will know that they have your support which gives them political muscle."
- For those without children: volunteer life experience to teach common sense in any subject.
- The speaker urges the audience to "go out and make this happen."

## Implications & Consequences
- **Immediate Risk:** "America's decay in every sector of society" because Civics is un-taught, meaning people don't know "who we are... and don't know the difference between right and wrong."
- **Future Governance:** If education fails, the country will be run by self-interested parties, rather than according to constitutional principles.
- **Optimistic Outcome:** The system’s brilliance is that "the cream will rise to the top" if every person is educated and engaged.

## Verbatim Moments
- *"Missing Link is the reason for the uneasy feeling we all share now about what's happening in America."*
- *"it is the only class Civics in which that is taught that the ruler and the ruled could be one thing."*
- *"it teaches the citizens of the country that they are the final Authority that they are the ones to be answered to."*
- *"The Bill of Rights is revolutionary because it's more than a series of laws and responsibilities it is a picture of our future moral character."*
- *"what is posterity it's you it's you and your kids"*
- *"Civics untaught is values untaught and that means when we wake up in the morning we don't know who we are we don't know why we are who we are and we don't know the difference between right and wrong"*
- *"we do need enough people to get the best possible education so that the country can be handled in governance and Industry and Science and the Arts by the best and the brightest and the rest are are educated engaged Ed and of value"*
- *"The world needs us"*