From Courtroom to Classroom: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Civics Learning Revolution

COURTROOM TO CLASSROOM

J O’Con

Civics Learning Revolution

By Kelly B. Landis

Ci,vic education must be understood, at its root, as education for informed participation in government and society. The goal is for students to have the knowledge to understand the political history of our nation, appreciate different perspectives, craft their own informed opinions, and gain the skills to persuasive# ly advocate their views in the public sphere. This combination of outcomes will motivate students to participate and to lead so that self rule can be continued and perfected.

-JusTICE SANDRA DAY O ‘C oNNOR1

weighing in on the questions presented by the game. The jokes and asides garnered laughs. But as the game progressed, the room grew quieter and fewer and fewer hands shot up into the air. Finally, one hand did go up; a state supreme court jus tice told the iCivics representative leading the session that many of the judges in the room probably did not feel comfortable weighing in on some of the issues raised by the game. While not quite in advisory opinion territory, they still may be offer ing answers to questions that could come before them on the bench.

Six months later, another group met to play the same game, this time in a Washington, D.C., courthouse. However, this group consisted not of judges, but of 10-year-olds from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington. The dynamic reversed from the one that had played out in Maine. At first, few children vol unteered their