Friday, October 27, was National Civics Day

Well, how come I didn’t know that such a thing as National Civics Day exists? How long have I been writing the Civics 101 column now for The SCOOP USA Media Newspaper? I am blushing beet red under my dark chocolate skin as I write my column today. Again, I ask, how did I not know that there is such a thing as National Civics Day?

- Thera Martin

By chance, I caught a story on the TV news, both local and national network news shows promoting, the fact that Friday, October 27, was National Civics Day. Of course, I was highly fascinated because I am 100% interested in tracking stories I can share about civics for this column. So, after learning that October 27 was National Civics Day, I decided to dig a little further, and here’s what I learned, which I will now share with you.

National Civics Day is all about American history and a reminder of the importance of learning the rights and responsibilities of citizens in the United States. On the date, October 27, 1787, the first Federalist papers were published and used as a basis for the United States Constitution. Civics is also about encouraging critical thinking, community engagement, civil discourse, and understanding how our government functions, and when you can do all of that-- then it’s time to start thinking about taking leadership roles in our community, in our state, and at the national level.

Civics classes in our schools, I devoted a whole Civics 101 column on this subject more than two years ago, I believe. I took a look at the state of Pennsylvania and identified schools that say they teach civics as a course. What I found then was that more often than not, if civics is taught in certain schools, in PA, it is not taught as a full semester course--it's an abbreviated version of a class.