Civic Engagement Is Learned, So Why Aren’t All Schools Teaching It

By Caillou Dasalla

Civics classes are vital — but many students would say they are deficient and unengaging. Unfortunately, that is the persisting experience of civics courses for millions of California students. That is, unless you are privileged.

When I was a student, I found civics classes thrilling! But that is because my school district paid top dollar to make sure they were, like by providing AP opportunities. Because of my compelling civics education, I am more civically engaged today. Sadly, this is the exception, not the rule, in California.

Not all school districts in California can afford to provide effective or engaging civics courses like I had. Despite the fact that California has the fifth largest economy in the world, we do not provide the funding necessary to ensure that all our students realize their full capacity for civic engagement. Instead, our schools are underfunded and underserved despite our relative wealth. They produce students who do not want to vote, who are apathetic, or who simply do not know how to enact their full rights as citizens. 

As it stands, our underfunded schools inhibit Californian students from becoming well-informed, active citizens. Atop this failure, the lack of funding for schools disproportionately hurts students of color, disenfranchising them right in the classroom.

So ultimately, while many of us take our civics classes for granted, especially those of us who had well-funded courses, we shouldn’t. We shouldn’t because those classes taught us how to be citizens. We must demand that all Californians have this privilege through equitable education funding. And we ought to demand it now.