Actually, my own kids in Evanston, Ill., say that they get overdoses of the Civil Rights movement.
The other stuff, Social security, Medicare/caid, union organizing rights (ha ha ha), employment law and employment disctimination, some criminal law beyond "knowing your rights" (Miranda) actually requires some legal and historical knowledge. When I took contracts (especially) I thought, gee, everybody ought to have at least an overview of this stuff. Also with consumer protection laws. But this not stuff that teaching schools are qualified to teach teachers, or most teachers are qualified to teach. And it is stuff that really has to be taught right because if you want to use it, rather than just know about it in a general way, it matters whether you get it right.
So I agree that it would be good to have this stuff taught in schools, and you could do it under citizenship, not even as a lefty exercise, but it would take a complete revamping of tecaher education.
jks
> One subject that is kept out of school curricula is
> the subject of
> rights and entitlements -- rights we have as
> citizens, workers,
> consumers, and so on, social programs to which we
> are entitled, and
> how to claim both. That's what teachers should be
> required by law to
> teach. E.g., "Approximately one of every five
> children eligible for
> Medicaid coverage is medically uninsured" (at
> <http://www.urban.org/
> Template.cfm?NavMenuID=24&template=/TaggedContent/
> ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=7389>). There
> should be classes
> called "Rights and Entitlements" in which teachers
> help children (and
> their parents) fill out application forms to
> Medicaid, etc. while
> teaching them about the history of social movements
> that won them
> their rights and entitlements.
>
> Yoshie Furuhashi
> <http://montages.blogspot.com>
> <http://monthlyreview.org>
> <http://mrzine.org>
> * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud-
> ahmadinejads-face.html>;
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez-
> congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>;
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/
> 2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>
>
>
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