Joanne Jacobs
Teens can vote for school board in Oakland, Berkeley -- but will they?
Teenagers 16 and 17 year old will be able to vote for school board in Oakland and Berkeley.
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Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 14
- 3 min
Teaching the election: It's not a crusade
Social studies teachers are eager to discuss the election -- students might actually care! -- but also very nervous about...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 2
- 2 min
Silicon Valley parents push back on ethnic studies
Parents want to know what will be taught in soon-to-be-mandatory ethnic studies class.
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 4
- 2 min
Proud to be Americans
When Bruno Manno was growing up in the '50s and '50s, his family would gather at his grandparents' Italian tavern, to eat, drink and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 1
- 1 min
Young voters say: Politicians are corrupt, America is in decline
Young voters say politicians are corrupt and America is in decline in new poll.
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 14, 2023
- 1 min
Afraid to teach: 'It's safer to avoid current events'
Polarization is chilling classroom dialogue, according to a series of interviews with teachers by the Constructive Dialogue Institute...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 12, 2023
- 2 min
Beyond basics: Schools must teach 'virtues and habits' of free people
"Back to basics" education isn't enough, writes Gillian Richards on The American Conservative. "Some conservatives have responded to...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 23, 2023
- 1 min
Test reading and civics at the same time
Only 6 percent of eighth-graders can read Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech and identify two ideas from the Constitution or...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 6, 2023
- 2 min
Texas limits 'action civics'
Civic activism can't be required in Texas public schools if it requires communicating with federal, state or local officials, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 5, 2023
- 1 min
History, civics and reading comprehension go together
The more students know about the world, the better they can understand what they read, writes Susan Pimentel in Education Week. The...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 4, 2023
- 2 min
Educating citizens: We can do better, but will we?
"The new National Assessment of Educational Progress civics and history results are as deplorable as they were predictable," writes...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 4, 2023
- 2 min
40% of 8th-graders are 'below basic' in history
Eighth-graders don't know much about U.S. history and civics, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 18, 2023
- 1 min
Choice and common culture
We need to find a way to have school choice and to teach our "shared inheritance" as Americans, writes Fordham's Checker Finn. He worries...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 9, 2023
- 2 min
You are not enough: Love thy neighbor too
"You are enough" is a popular saying, writes Katherine Boyle on The Free Press. But it's not true. Americans have lost their sense of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 3, 2023
- 2 min
It's only Schoolhouse Rock (but I like it)
I'm so old I don't know the words to Conjunction Junction. Schoolhouse Rock, animated musical shorts on grammar, history, civics,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 3, 2023
- 2 min
Teach civics -- not activism
"Fixating on activism misses the point of civics education," write Frederick M. Hess, a former civics teacher now education policy...
Joanne Jacobs
- Nov 23, 2022
- 2 min
Blamesgiving: Public schools teach that America is 'bad and broken'
Public schools have lost touch with their mission and purpose, writes Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 30, 2022
- 1 min
Serve your country to clear your student loans
Link college loans to civilian or military service, writes Steve Cohen in City Journal. "President Biden’s plan to 'forgive' student...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 19, 2022
- 2 min
Fuzzy civics: Teachers don't value knowledge
I learned about separation of powers, checks and balances and the three separate and equal branches of government -- executive,...
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