{"id":31824,"date":"2016-09-30T09:04:26","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T13:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=31824"},"modified":"2016-09-30T09:04:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T13:04:29","slug":"barrar-calls-for-enhanced-civics-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=31824","title":{"rendered":"Barrar calls for enhanced civics education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gavelconstitution\"<\/a>Led by majority chairmen Reps. Steve Barrar (R-160) and Stan Saylor (R-York), the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness and Education committees held a hearing to hear testimony on House Bill 1858, which would require students to take the naturalization test as a condition of graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis bipartisan bill, which has nearly 50 co-sponsors, would help to prepare our students for active, engaged citizenship,\u201d Barrar said. \u201cWithout knowing how our government works or its rich history, they don\u2019t have the building blocks to respect our democratic process and their place in it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The legislation would require students to pass the civics test with a 60 percent minimum between ninth and 12<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> grades as a condition of graduation (or earning a GED). Schools would have the flexibility to determine how the test would be administered for all students \u2013 including those living with physical or mental disabilities \u2013 and students would be allowed to take the test as many times as necessary to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exam is the same one that immigrants who wish to become a United States citizen must pass. Because it already exists online and is free, the bill would not be an unfunded mandate. Also, a study guide will be available (also for free) in October.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Lucian Spataro of the Civics Education Initiative shared the support that many states have demonstrated regarding the prioritization of teaching civics and United States history. \u201cSince launching the initiative, 14 states have enacted this exact or similar legislation and an additional 25 states will be considering this legislation next year,\u201d said Spataro.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hon. Marjorie Rendell, president of the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement, highlighted the urgency of the issue. \u201cOnly 26 percent of Americans could name all three branches of the United States government, and just 31 percent couldn\u2019t identify a single branch,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are many reasons for this decline, among the most significant are an over-emphasis on a few curricular subjects over others, lack of attention to civics because it is not part of more state\u2019s testing regimes and a lack of appreciation for the central role the civic mission or our schools play in maintaining the health of our representative democracy.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Testifiers representing the Pennsylvania State Education Association, Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania Principals Association opposed the legislation, noting that taking a civics test does not make a person knowledgeable about government or an engaged citizen. Further, they noted that the test requires rote memorization of facts and would take time that could be used to teach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who did not support the bill also explained that adding another high-stakes test that could serve as a barrier for a student to graduate \u2013 regardless of his or her performance and achievements throughout his or her academic career \u2013 does a disservice to the very students the education community is trying to engage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After hearing the testimony provided, an impassioned member of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee responded to a buzzword that was thrown around throughout the hearing. \u201cIt is high stakes that kids aren\u2019t voting. It is high stakes that young adults aren\u2019t enlisting to serve our country. It is high stakes that they don\u2019t appreciate the sacrifices made by so many for our patriotic ideals. It is high stakes not<\/i> to pass this bill,\u201d Rep. Bryan Barbin (D-Cambria\/Somerset).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Led by majority chairmen Reps. Steve Barrar (R-160) and Stan Saylor (R-York), the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness and Education committees held a hearing to hear testimony on House Bill 1858, which would require students to take the naturalization test as a condition of graduation. \u201cThis bipartisan bill, which has nearly 50 co-sponsors, would help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8920,8921,4018],"class_list":["post-31824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-civics","tag-stateg-legislature","tag-stephen-barrar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31825,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31824\/revisions\/31825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}