Chapter 5: Issue-Centered Education for Democracy Through Project Citizen

There is broad consensus among social studies educators that the core mission of social studies is civic education. In a democracy, the need for a body of informed and responsible citizens capable of confronting, debating, and ultimately deciding current issues of public policy cannot be overstated. Civic education is a vital means by which our society transmits to the next generation the core knowledge, skills, and dispositions of democratic citizenship. It is what allows democratic societies to reproduce themselves across generations.

Of course, there is an appropriate place for civic education at every level of learning. It is increasingly recognized, however, that the middle school years are an especially crucial time in the development of civic roles and responsibilities. These are the formative years during which early-adolescent students are discovering their identities, their larger roles in their communities, and the values that they will hold throughout their lives. Educators, policymakers, parents, and concerned members of the community need to recognize civic education for democracy in the middle school as a prime concern.