Chapter 11A: What Public Philosophy Should we Teach?: A Reply to Parker

I believe that the Advanced Placement (AP) American Government experiments conducted by Walter Parker and colleagues are among the most exciting interventions in civic education today (see Parker, Ch. 11, this volume; Parker, Valencia, & Lo, 2017; Parker & Lo 2016).

Working closely with teachers, Parker and his team have completely rethought the AP Government course—often a rapid march through miscellaneous material—so that the entire time is devoted to elaborate simulations (a model Congress, a mock Supreme Court, etc.) and the course focuses on a few central concepts instead of a long list.

The results have been positive: students perform just as well on the AP test while developing much better civic skills and interests. I admire the move to interactive projects and the willingness to distinguish “central” from “peripheral” concepts. I agree with Parker and his colleagues that if the course is AP American Government, then the core concepts are “federalism and constitutional reasoning.” Working with those concepts in interactive settings will teach you what you need to know to score high on the test.