糖心动漫vlog

Last school year, Massachusetts teacher Andrew Swan started to feel like the assignments he had long relied on to illustrate how government works for his students were falling short.

In one, his 8th grade civics students analyzed documents and worked through a series of prompts, preparing them to answer the essay question: 鈥淗ow does the Constitution guard against tyranny?鈥� They read excerpts from some of James Madison鈥檚 Federalist Papers about the division of powers, answered questions about how these powers are delineated in the Constitution, and drew the three branches of government鈥攍egislative, judicial, executive鈥攊n an equal triangle, checking each other鈥檚 power.

鈥淚t was meant to guide the students to seeing the Constitution has this balance,鈥� Swan said.

Meanwhile, in the news, students had been watching as President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration pushed the boundaries of executive power, prompting constitutional experts across the ideological spectrum to suggest that he had violated the law.

By the end of the school year, Trump had, among other actions, evaded orders from federal courts and canceled federal funding without congressional authorization. Over the summer, he federalized the police force in the nation鈥檚 capital and has threatened to send members of the National Guard to other major cities in blue states. He also vowed to bar states from using mail-in ballots.

The incongruities between Swan鈥檚 lesson and the headlines were stark. The class activity, he later reflected, 鈥渓eaves out a lot of the key realities.鈥�

As this example illustrates, Trump鈥檚 norm-breaking, precedent-setting second term presents a new challenge for social studies and civics teachers already navigating an environment of heightened political polarization in the classroom: Government isn鈥檛 working the way that textbooks say it does. The system is more malleable than clear-cut lessons about separation of powers or the limits of the executive tend to represent.

That realization can feel destabilizing for young people.

鈥淭here鈥檚 just a level of disbelief with the kids,鈥� said Michael Martirone, a social studies teacher at Egg Harbor Township High School in New Jersey.

The teenagers in his classes, in an area of the state where the community spans the political spectrum, don鈥檛 understand why Congress hasn鈥檛 done more to check the president鈥檚 power鈥攁 right that the legislative branch is supposed to exercise.

It鈥檚 correct to say that Trump鈥檚 administration is reshaping some of the ways in which the government operates, said Noah Rosenblum, an associate professor of law at New York University, who studies administrative law, constitutional law, and legal history and is a member of the Brennan Center for Justice鈥檚 Historians Council on the Constitution.

But that fact belies a larger, uncomfortable truth for civics education: There鈥檚 always been a chasm between the Schoolhouse Rock version of government discussed in the classroom and the reality of how government works on the ground.

鈥淔or years, we鈥檝e continued to teach the story of American civics education as if the story the American government tells about itself is the way American government and law actually [work],鈥� Rosenblum said.

鈥淭hat certainly hasn鈥檛 been true for almost 80 years鈥攁nd possibly hasn鈥檛 ever been true.鈥�

Could a rejection of that story鈥攁n adoption of a more realist approach to civic learning鈥攈elp students better understand this moment they鈥檙e living through?

The uncharted waters of modern civics education

It鈥檚 been a hard few years to be a social studies educator in America.

Teachers have taught through two impeachments, several contentious presidential elections, the rise in online misinformation, a pandemic, a racial reckoning that launched nationwide protest movements, and the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

They鈥檝e had to help their students parse these events in real time鈥攎any while teaching under state laws restricting how they can talk about race, gender, and other issues deemed controversial in the classroom. Now, they鈥檙e navigating politically charged headlines about constitutional interpretation and the limits of the president鈥檚 executive authority.

Most social studies teachers think it鈥檚 appropriate to talk about these issues in the classroom, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey conducted over the summer, although respondents varied in their determination at what age. Talking about current events is 鈥渆ssential,鈥� wrote one survey respondent. Students, they wrote, 鈥渟hould be exposed to practical thinking about what is happening, comparison to actions in the past, and a consideration of best practice going forward.鈥�

But more than half the same teachers said it鈥檚 harder now than it was a year ago to discuss anything that would raise questions about whether elected officials were violating the law.

鈥淚t is becoming increasingly difficult to teach the Constitution and the separation of powers while the current administration, the Congress, and the Supreme Court work together to violate the constitutional separation of powers,鈥� wrote another survey respondent.

A third said their answer about whether current events should be discussed with students represented an 鈥渋deal.鈥�

鈥淚n reality, I would be/am nervous when discussing current events with students, even from a nonpartisan or objective perspective,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淚 feel that my district isn鈥檛 looking out for teachers and will be punitive.鈥�

For this story, Education Week spoke with leaders in half a dozen civics and social studies education organizations across the country, asking for their advice to 糖心动漫vlog about how to navigate what can seem like an unprecedented moment. How should they respond if their students ask whether some of the current administration鈥檚 actions are constitutional?

Across the ideological spectrum, these leaders proffered similar answers. Set up a lesson centered around inquiry. Use students鈥� questions as a jumping-off point. Ground the investigation in the founding documents鈥攖he Constitution, the Bill of Rights. Ask students what answers these documents offer. Show how courts have challenged the constitutionality of presidential actions in the past and made different interpretive decisions. Then, ask students for their perspectives.

But this framing still misses important context. It doesn鈥檛 explain, as Martirone鈥檚 students wanted to know, why Congress isn鈥檛 curtailing the president鈥檚 power. It doesn鈥檛 reckon with how forces like partisanship, money in politics, or lobbying play into the way Congress wields its power, the way the courts interpret the law, or the way commentators discuss these decisions. And as such, it has limited explanatory power for students.

It doesn鈥檛 account for how politics can explain why people on opposite sides of the aisle might take such varying positions on whether actions are, or are not, constitutional.

The new politics of the Trump era

Take, for example, the power of the executive. Trump is pushing its limits, but presidents have gradually expanded their authority for decades. It鈥檚 a trend Republicans point toward when asked how to interpret the current administration鈥檚 actions. Many conservative voices have drawn similarities between how former President Joe Biden used executive orders and how Trump is doing so now.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still not sure why the [former] president felt he could declare an emergency after the pandemic was over and try and forgive over $430 billion of student-loan debt away,鈥� said Jim Blew, the co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, a conservative nonprofit. Blew was also an assistant secretary of education during the first Trump administration.

鈥淭he spin has been that this president is just extraordinary鈥斺�榟e鈥檚 an autocrat,鈥� 鈥榟e鈥檚 a tyrant.鈥� And from a conservative point of view, that鈥檚 an unfair allegation, because he鈥檚 abiding by the court cases,鈥� Blew said.

But court cases, too, are shaped by partisan politics, with judges appointed by Trump often siding in favor of his administration, in spite of what might appear to be an overreach.

One U.S. District judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, did suggest the Trump administration violated court orders to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. But Trump-appointed judges in a federal appeals court blocked those contempt proceedings in August.

Politics also shapes how the legislative branch operates. For instance, Congress has the power to investigate the executive branch of wrongdoing. But in recent years, these investigations usually happen when the presidency and Congress are controlled by different political parties, said Rosenblum, the NYU professor.

鈥淐ongress is rarely jealous of its prerogatives when it鈥檚 controlled by the same party that controls the presidency,鈥� he said.

鈥淏y putting what鈥檚 happening into context, you can see the way in which it鈥檚 building on what came before鈥攁nd the way in which our current moment is seeing the president and Congress go much further,鈥� he continued.

For instance, when they鈥檙e controlled by the same political party, Congress usually takes steps to protect the president. That鈥檚 not unusual. But it is unusual for the speaker of the House to send Congress into recess, rather than allow for the introduction of bills that could threaten the president, as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson did in July, Rosenblum said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 unprecedented. That鈥檚 another step.鈥�

Providing this context to students can help teachers present a more realistic picture of American government. But it still leaves them with a daunting task: answering student questions about what happens next.

A civics education that embraces uncertainty

Although explicitly addressing how politics shapes civic behavior is a tricky, and potentially risky, job for teachers, the consequences of not doing so, for some students, are immediate and material.

Shannon Salter, a high school civics teacher in Allentown, Pa., works in a school where about 80% of students are Latino. Federal immigration enforcement has been a frequent topic of conversation in her classroom this year.

鈥淎rming students with a toolbox of all of that historical precedent and information can be very powerful, but all of those conversations can end in, 鈥楬ow does all of that help me if someone鈥檚 knocking on my door at 11 p.m. with a badge and a gun?鈥欌�� she said.

For others, the effect of an uncertain political climate is more abstract.

Martirone, the New Jersey teacher, said the distance between how students think government should work and the way it actually does has made them cynical about political participation writ large. 鈥淭he kids have said鈥攚hy would we want to get involved in something that鈥檚 such a dumpster fire?鈥�

A more realist view of civics education demonstrates that the American government isn鈥檛 a Schoolhouse Rock song or a dumpster fire, but something in between, said Rosenblum. Right now, we鈥檙e in the process of reshaping, again, how the country鈥檚 laws operate.

鈥淲hat that will look like on the other side of this, we don鈥檛 know,鈥� he said.

That鈥檚 a daunting idea for students to sit with. But maybe, civics education can lean into that uncertainty.

The country isn鈥檛 run by documents but by people who make decisions about how to interpret, abide by them, and fight for them to change. That鈥檚 clearer now than ever for students, regardless of their political views, teachers told Education Week.

One high school social studies teacher in rural Ohio, who spoke with Education Week on the condition of anonymity, said her students鈥攎ostly Trump supporters鈥攕upported the president鈥檚 use of executive orders. They were adamant that the president had the authority to issue whatever changes he wanted.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e sitting there with the confidence of the information they鈥檝e learned on social media and challenging my expertise, my degree, what I know,鈥� she said.

At the same time, Sarah Kopplin, a 7th grade civics teacher in a deep-blue suburb of Milwaukee, said her students found inspiration this year from an entirely different source鈥攅xamples of how women and Black Americans fought for, and won, their rights to be enshrined in law.

These teachers have tried to convey that change is a constant鈥攁nd an opportunity.

鈥淭hey are so interested in understanding their own rights. They also are so interested in understanding how things work,鈥� Kopplin said of her students.

Last year, when they peppered her with questions about why Congress wasn鈥檛 doing more to check the executive branch鈥檚 actions, she responded with her own question: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 your role if the government is not following the Constitution?鈥� Some of them reached out to lawmakers to voice their concerns, she said.

In Salter鈥檚 class, she and her students spent a lot of the last year talking about values. What are the country鈥檚 values, and are we living up to them?

鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough to just prepare students for how it has always worked but also [to] prep students with a mindset of鈥攜ou鈥檙e going to inherit all of this,鈥� Salter said. 鈥淎t some point, the decisions about how it works will be yours.鈥�