California offers graduation honor to encourage active civic engagement
EdSource
Fresno Unified is among the school districts encouraging students to become civically engaged and in the process earn a seal affixed to their high school diploma that recognizes their involvement. The State Seal of Civic Engagement recognizes not only that students understand the democratic process but also apply their knowledge to address issues or problems they care deeply about in school or the community.
“In a time of rancor, the seal in my mind could not have a greater importance,” Superintendent Bob Nelson said. He spoke last week the morning after the president of his school board shut down a raucous meeting when one board member and a member of the public engaged in a shouting match and a contingent of vaccination opponents showed up to lash out at another board member for posting a sarcastic tweet mocking their views.
“Students must learn to self-advocate for issues they believe in a productive way without harming someone else or impugning the character of someone who disagrees with you,” Nelson said. “Adults are not doing great now at modeling behavior for students.”
The authors of a study that takes a first look at the new program agree with Nelson that despite political tensions, schools and educators can help restore democratic values and norms. Although the state seal is only one tool, “it is an important one with the potential to help renew the democratic purpose of California’s public schools,” wrote Erica Hodgin and Leah Bueso in “Breaking New Ground with California’s State Seal of Civic Engagement: Lessons from Year 1.” Hodgin is program director and Bueso is a postdoctoral scholar with Leveraging Equity & Access in Democratic Education, an initiative at UCLA and UC Riverside.