Their winning entry is titled th democracy must be learned. Found this organization a week after the parkland shooting to give students a voice in the fight against gun control. We have proven that now is the time for change. [cheers] this is not governed blair ghts this is Montgomery Blair high school in maryland. From the march for lives to fridays,te strike millions of youth have involve themselves in the political process. Youth involvement in politics is nothing new. Sometimes its a cause, sometimes its a war in particular, especially if people feel they will be drafted. Time, people same participate because they want to play a role. They want that selfidentity that they are an important contributing member of society. Young people have found their way into politics because they want to play a role, because it says something to them about their involvement and citizenship. It is a way of announcing euro in society. Engagementing, youth has fallen off from historic highs. In the 1972 election, the first election in which 1820yearolds were eligible to vote, 55 of youth voters cast ballots. Youth voter turnout has never reached that number again. Result of aquo as a decades long crisis in american civics. Schools across america once taught constitutional and civic principles as an educational requirement. According to an American Progress center report, only nine states in the district of columbia currently require at least one year of government classes in high school. The lack of concentrated civic curricula in schools violates a basic principle of american government, the educated citizen. The founders of american democracy understood the power and knowledge go together. If you want to have your little citizenship, is you need to empower yourself with education. The consequences of the decline in civics classes are harrowing. Let me start with another analogy. When you went to drive a car, your parents did not simply hand ari. The keys to a ferrer democracy is like that, too. What having the instruction course and car manual does for you is give you all the tools you need to know of how things are supposed to work. Thats what Civic Education does. Definitely. It helps you understand the purposes of things but also the grander scheme of things. How are youth expected to become stewards of our democracy when they are not even taught how democracy works . The more they understand through Civic Education, the importance of that vote, and if they really can change things. The fact that the house is controlled by democrats or republicans is going to lead to dramatically different policy. Stepping up, and its really responsibility to vote. The ymca has helped meet this need through its youth in government programs. For youth in government, we play a we kind of serve as intermediaries. We help schools and teachers provide students with ways to make transformational change in their communities. We ask students, what are things that you want to see done differently in your community . What are things that you want to improve . What are some of the problems you think are not part of the conversation at your school right now . We give them a platform to do that. Others call for instituting robust programs of civic instruction back in american schools. Point, thevantage whole purpose of public schooling is Civic Education, it is to create and prepare students for a role as citizens. It is extremely problematic. Even others stressed that Civics Education should be more than just an initiative, but rather, a holistic process socializing you to politics. Civicsknow, having a class or Service Requirement is not enough. It has to be something that is relevant to young people, where young people have a voice and it, where we talked about the skills Civic Education can manifest and learning to have discussions with people who may disagree with you. No matter how Civics Education is accomplished, however, its benefits are clear. Civics education equitably and universally gives young people the opportunity to learn about how the system works. Our vision for 2020 is for Civics Education to reach the forefront of the president ial administration agenda. We want to encourage millions of a formally disengaged people to vote in 2020 and beyond. Are given the opportunity and the skills to become informed voters and engaged citizens, they vote. Because democracy must be learned. What is the ability to rewrite and calculate if we dont understand the civic actions that will secure our future and keep it on a prosperous trajectory . Build the roof before you lay the foundation. Watch each winning documentary online at studentcam. Org. Cspan,g live today on next, your calls and comments on washington journal. At 11 30 a. M. Eastern, Kevin Mccarthy speaks to reporters via conference call. Thats followed by House Speaker nancy pelosi at 12 15 p. M. With her Weekly Press Briefing over the phone. Hour, indiana representative Jackie Walorski on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in her district and the status of a Coronavirus Relief bill. On the a. M. , megan myers role of the u. S. Military during the pandemic. Heritage Foundation Fellow brett of ther on the role World Health Organization and President Trumps decision to cut funding to the organization. On the latestross on the u. S. Coronavirus response and efforts to keep nurses safe. Host President Trump today set to announce his initial plans on you reopening u. S. Society just over a month after announcing a National Emergency over the coronavirus pandemic. This as the worlds number of cases pass the 2 million mark. Good morning, welcome to washington journal. The president may brief members of congress in separate phone calls this morning. We will start the program asking u. S. Ready to reopen . 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