What does it look like when civic education helps students truly practice democracy and not just learn about it?
That’s the question at the heart of a recent PBS Inside California Education segment featuring Mountain House High School and our Civic Action Project (CAP).
In teacher Surekha D’Souza’s Law and Society course at Mountain House High School, students begin their CAP experience by identifying an issue they care about. But that’s just the start. What follows is months of research, deliberation, planning, collaboration, and deep reflection guided by the foundational principles of civic life.
Students are asked not only to study their topics, but to examine all sides of the issues they choose. They learn to ask:
- What are the competing perspectives here, and why do they matter?
- How do principles of government and law apply to this issue?
- What do I think the solution to this problem should be? Why? How can I take action that would help bring this solution to life?
What makes this work so powerful is how students engage with each other. In the CAP classroom, civil discourse isn’t an add-on but a daily practice. Students learn to respectfully challenge each other’s assumptions, support their ideas with evidence, and revise their thinking when presented with new information. They learn to think critically and develop media literacy skills. The process isn’t always easy, but it’s how democratic habits take root.
The result is not just better conversations but deeper understanding. Students gain experience in critical thinking, collaborative inquiry, and constitutional reasoning. They engage with community stakeholders and local officials to learn how government works in practice and how they can make change in their communities. They leave the project not only knowing more about how government works, but more importantly, how to participate thoughtfully and responsibly in civic life.
For us at Teach Democracy, this is what civic education is meant to be: a space where students take ownership of their learning, grapple with real-world complexities, and develop the habits of informed, engaged citizenship.
We’re proud to see Mountain House High School’s thoughtful implementation of CAP recognized and even prouder of the students who are showing what it means to understand and embrace the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Teach Democracy’s Civic Action Project is available to teachers and schools at no cost. We believe that there should be no barriers between educators, students, and the fundamental imperative of civic learning.
