Encinitas Calif.-based Grauer School Selected to Participate in Dreyfuss Initiative
The Dreyfuss Initiative (TDI) has enlisted the participation of The Grauer School in advancing its mission to reestablish civics education in American classrooms...
...According to Dreyfuss, "The Grauer School is a time-tested incubator for theory to practice in the public school setting. The school caught my attention based on their distinctive and highly effective approach to education," (46 seniors from the past three graduating classes have been accepted to 87% of all colleges to which they applied and amassed $5.5 million in scholarship offers) "resulting in achievements unmatched by any school in the region. I discovered on a recent site visit to a Grauer classroom that students enrolled there had an excellent foundation of American history, but craved more rigorous treatment of civics in the real world. These students will help us engage other students on a nationwide level in the National Conversation. They will also develop a task force to facilitate the implementation of a TDI project called 'Civics Express', an experiential learning train journey that traces the historical steps of the Founding Fathers."
Grauer School faculty recently participated in the bi-coastal National Conversation event held on January 17, 2011, hosted by TDI simultaneously at the University of San Diego in San Diego, CA and at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Grauer School faculty provided assistance at the San Diego event, which included a panel discussion featuring Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Romer, John Fund, Diane Ravitch, Richard Shenkman, and Admiral Bruce Boland. Entitled, "It's Time for a Talk; The National Conversation on Revitalizing America's Civic Culture", the discussion addressed the unprecedented anxiety felt by U.S. citizens regarding our nation's future accompanied by the lack of comprehension surrounding the cultural meaning and heritage of America.
The Grauer School is an independent grades 6-12 college preparatory day school; its students commit several thousand hours to humanitarian and ecological service annually, locally and globally. The School, now celebrating its 20th year in San Diego's North County, is the only UNESCO associated institution in the southern California region. To learn more about The Grauer School experience, visit http://www.grauerschool.com or call 760/944-6777.
This is a view of the Dreyfuss Initiative from JLUE'S WEBLOG
Question Concerning Dreyfuss Initiative
The Question?
What does Richard Dreyfuss suggest students be taught in ‘Civics’?
In 2006 Dreyfuss made the comment that when terrorist go into Disney World and do something horrible, we will willingly toss the Bill of Rights into the ocean. He suggest that our young people are not ready to lead a free country in a dangerous world. This is one of the reasons he suggest all schools have a civics course of study.
Simply stated, ‘Civics’ is the study of the rights and duties of citizens. Certainly there should be either a course of study in civics or an emphasis on civics in social studies. This should go without saying, so why do we need an initiative such as ‘The Dreyfuss Initiative’ to accomplish something so simple?
Richard Dreyfuss, David Barton, and many other educators realize that American students are not performing well and that ignorance is a big problem in our nation. How can we continue to govern ourselves if we do not understand our own government and are not familiar with our own rule of law? We spend hours arguing and listening to politicians, but we often remain ignorant or allow our youth to grow up without even a fundamental understanding of our government.
Despite the fact that America far outspends other nations on education, ourstudents are outperformed by students from Poland, the Slovak Republic, Czechoslovakia, Iceland, China, Taiwan, Canada, Korea, Wales, and many other nations. America currently has one of the poorest outcomes per education dollar spent among all industrial nations.
I have spent a good deal of time looking and listening atand this initiative and I have to say that I think his heart is in the right place here. He does want to improve our nation. He believes ‘Civics’ isn’t being taught and he wants true ‘Civics’ taught in public schools. He doesn’t propose to teach the subject, just that it be done.
In 2006, Dreyfuss also said that when it comes to teaching our children ‘civics’, a lack of money is not a reasonable excuse. He suggested that educators who understand the importance of civics can find ways to make the subject accessible and exciting, engage students and make parents demand it. He is, however, wrong on one important point. He also said:
“We are the richest country in the history of the world, and can afford to do anything we wish, if we wish it… The trick is to make the powers that be share our wish …”
While we have been the richest country in the history of the world with the highest standard of living, it only takes one or two administrations who fail to understand our economy, our economic system, to put us in second, third or last place. We are no longer the richest nation. We are now a nation deeply in debt with a president who plans to continue to spend borrowed money. How many men and women have bankrupted themselves through the continued spending of borrowed money? Americans must realize that nations also have to accept and live by economy reality and principles!
Here is the point where I feel that Richard Dreyfuss and many others fail to make a connection. He not only espouses the teaching of ‘Civics’, he also is a very outspoken liberal. Liberalism hasn’t, doesn’t and will never work with our economic system or with our constitution. Therefore, the choice becomes more than liberalism and conservatism. It becomes a choice between living in freedom from debt or living in bondage to nations to whom we are indebted.
To teach ‘Civics’, (the study of the rights and duties of citizens) in our public schools we must also teach financial responsibility. A good citizen accepts responsibility. Students must be taught economics as well as civics if our nation is to survive. The steady diet of ‘liberalism’ that is being taught in most colleges cannot continue if students are going to become responsible for themselves and ultimately for the nation.
