Announcing an in-person discussion on paths to preserving democracy

Please consider joining an open discussion to explore Civics education as a scalable, cost-effective input to preserving democracy

Where: Workshop House, 1717 15^th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
When:  December 12 2024, 6pm – 9pm
Eats:   A vegan meal will be provided
Who:  Individuals with interest in / seeking solution for preserving democracy

Where does an individual's "spark of altruism" come from? In conversations with people engaged in altruistic pursuits, I often find that it came from an early experience contributing to a cause, which drew them bit by bit into later commitment. These first experiences are often quite modest and local to a community. Many people were inspired by examples of social action they encountered in Social Studies and other civics education in school. Civics instruction also offered an understanding of how citizens can engage in government to create positive outcomes. Together, inspiration and understanding helped to build the confidence that their contributions can have substantive impact.

Beyond the potential to grow altruistic participation, how is civics education important to the world's most important cause areas? The impact of most long-term programs – especially those based on science and/or public good – will certainly be realized only in the context of stable democracies. But in the United States and elsewhere, democracy is under threat.

The threat to American democracy is real and present. American democracy is flagged as under “significant threat” according to the Authoritarian Threat Index and the U.S. no longer ranks among the world’s “full democracies” (i.e. Canada, Japan, and most of Western Europe) but among the “flawed democracies…”
(The Economist Democracy Index, 2023)

Preserving democracy requires an educated, engaged citizenry. Involvement in high-quality civics education has been shown to help students discover their agency, equipping them with the knowledge and confidence required to engage.

Why invest in this particular pathway? In our discussion on December 12, we’ll explore the emerging evidence that civics education is a scalable and cost effective input to healthy democracy.

Regarding scale: America’s schools are the best opportunity for sustainable growth of civic engagement; they reach nearly 50 million diverse K-12 students each year. This is where young people learn how their system of government works (and should work), their place in it, and how they can participate. 

On cost-effectiveness: There is dramatic neglect in funding for social studies / civics education. Relative to STEM, civics receives 1/100th the level of per student spending. The differential value of redirecting relatively small levels of funding to civics education may yield disproportionate benefit. 

The discussion will be led by David Ritter. David is in the third act of his 40-year career as an engineer, technology executive and management consultant. He held leadership positions at Oracle Corporation and several start-ups, and was a Partner at The Boston Consulting Group for 18 years. David is committed to the cause of preserving democracy as an essential platform for long-term programs. He serves on the Board of Directors for iCivics, the leading organization that promotes and enables civics education in the United States (iCivics.org). He hopes to better understand how Civics Education may support aspects of the EA mission – as a cost-effective input to preserving democracy, and more broadly in creating more engaged citizens who may take up other specific causes.

Also expected to attend is Shawn Healy. Shawn leads iCivics’ efforts to influence government policy regarding civics education. Learn more about Shawn here:

https://vision.icivics.org/shawn-healy/

For an introduction to the work of iCivics, have a look at this interview with CEO Louise Dube:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?534103-5/louise-dube-importance-civics-education