students this as a history teacher, it is important to do that because then it teaches us to have empathy for the other side and teaches us to be able to recognize other people and the issues that are important to them. >> voices from the states. part of c-span's 50 capitals tour. theanelists discuss importance of civic engagement in america and describe research, public rogue rims, and online tools and debt increasing civic learning for children and adults. the 90 minute event was part of the presidential sites summit hosted by the white house historical association. david: good afternoon and welcome to the national archives. i am david ferriero and we are honored to have you with us this afternoon. anita came tond my office to talk about how we might participate, we quickly

came to the idea of doing a panel discussion on civic literacy. congratulations to the two of you for working with us to make that happen. two of my favorite days here at the national archives are constitution day and bill of hosts right when we naturalization ceremonies and the rotunda in front of the charters of freedom. theo 100 individuals take oath. a guest speaker reminds the new citizens of their rights and urges them to take advantage of those rights. more importantly, to understand their responsibilities. i'm always struck with the feeling that if i walked out onto constitution avenue and interviewed the random american citizen, they would not have the same understanding of their rights and responsibilities or how their government works. recent studies demonstrate this. nearly two thirds of americans can't name all three branches of the government get three in four

people can name all three stooges. [laughter] of eligible voters participated in the play 16 primary election. less than half of the public can name a single supreme court justice yet two thirds of americans know at least one of the american idol judges. educating the public is core to the mission of the national archives, hence our excitement about hosting this afternoon's conversation. let me introduce the panel. paul sparrow is currently director of the franklin d roosevelt library and museum. seniordeputy director in vice president overseeing digital media and programming. prior to that he was an emmy-winning were -- emmy award-winning producer. examines political,

social, and technology trends. tom walker is the founder and ceo of american village trust. the main purpose is to teach and inspire young people to discover more about american history and to encourage their civic engagement. tom has served in higher education as assistant to the president of mississippi state and in other public service positions. louise serves as the executive director of civic spirit high civics engages over 5 million students in meaningful civil learning every year. prior to that, she led several education growth companies, delivering engaging classroom experiences. our moderator for today is cokie television,r of

radio, print, and stage. [laughter] very often this stage. cokie: very often this stage. commentatorical heard on npr and seen on abc is dames,"or of "capital among others. her most important credential for me is that she is a member of the national archives on nation board and on my first day at on-the-job." my opened my desk drawer to find a note of welcome from cokie. [applause] cokie: thank you all for coming to this wonderful place. a repository of much of what you are interested in and do your research on and talk about. is so right about how incredibly inspiring -- if you

ever want to feel good about the thing to do is go to a naturalization ceremony. , with the charters of freedom right there, but also with the murals of the white guys in wigs and tights, and the people who are taking the oath are of every imaginable hue from all over the world. i remember asking a woman from here at the archives why she had decided to become a citizen from and she said because america is always there when people need america, and that is what has caused the blessings on this country. and i want to be part of the blessing. i thought that was quite wonderful. but david is right in terms of our topic here today. going outside the building it becomes a little bit harder in terms of what people know about

our government. , onece did a piece for npr of our producers from great britain has become a citizen, at an american citizen per he said ok, nobody that i know can pass this test. devised to concede to going to people waiting in line to go through the capital. they were here in washington to see the nation's capital. we asked many of them questions on the citizenship test and none of them got them at all. my role was to say the right answer. so, it was instructive. , very finese people people appear now are trying to remedy that in one way or another and they are going to talk to us about what their organizations are doing. is going, lee rainie

to give us an overview of where we are. for those of you don't know about you research, it is the gold plate. it is the place you go for the most accurate, most thorough research on all kinds of topics. of the is in charge digital part of it, basically. and basically everybody that does everything. data that he is going to depressingly share with us about what is happening in terms of civic engagement and civic education. so lee. thank you. that was so nice. thank you, david and stuart and anita for this amazing event. this is a big day in the life of pew research. one of the cheapest way to get a laugh in america is to go out on the street with an open mic and ask questions about our

government and about the news environment. what is striking about -- the number of ways, and i will redo -- i will read you numbers that will depress you. more information has been opened to more people in more ways than ever before. we have the cable tv revolution and then the internet revolution . astonishingly, the same proportion of americans can answer these questions correctly and incorrectly now as when gallup was asking many of these same questions in the 1960's and 1970's. you would think the impact would go in a different direction, but it doesn't. so, here is a little bit of what we don't know about what is going on in the country. there are occasional surveys about civic knowledge.

the most recent one in 2017, 20 6% of americans could not name three branches of government. one third could name a single branch. undern't name the rights the first amendment and only 14% spontaneously said freedom of the press. a% said when there is for-four tie in the supreme court, they weren't sure what happens to the law after that. they didn't know it goes back to lower courts for a decision. the american council and trustees and alumni do surveys of college students and graduates. 80% in the most recent survey would have scored an f on civic knowledge. they could not state the length of terms of members of the senate and house of representatives. called the study of the american dream center in what he define on ad not

multiple-choice the rule of law. 73% did not know the function of the judicial branch. 63% could not name one of their senators. 52% could not name the governor of their state. contribution to the mo, larry, curly horse story is that 10% of college graduates believe that judge judy is on the supreme court. [laughter] the majority think she is more trustworthy than anyone who is currently on the court. this leaves america and a soured mood emma particularly those who are in despair of these windings. we've been studying the state of democracy in america. a series ofricans questions. 18% say american democracy now is working very well. 61% say significant structural changes should be made in the

way we perform our duties. we march people through two batteries of questions where we outlined 26 traits of a democracy and said how important is this trait to a functioning democracy? and then we march them through the same ones and say how well are we doing? 23 out of 26 cases there were statistically significant gaps between our hopes of what is working well and the way we actually think we are performing. 78% of americans say it is good for republicans and democrats to get along and solve problems but only 19% say we are doing it effectively. cokie: they are right. lee: there's a 53% gap between those who think officials who must perform are punished, but only 30% say we do that well. there are similar gaps when you talk about the role of military not being involved in political

aboutanship, and protecting the freedoms and rights of others. when you ask about the structural changes americans would like to make, they cite a couple of things. of americans think the electoral college is not working. to say it would be better elect presidents with a majority of the popular vote rather than the electoral college system we now have. 41% would like to keep the system the way it is. three to one margins say there is too much influence of money and lobbyist and politics. distressing is that of americans have begun to despair in themselves. up until five years ago, almost two thirds would say at the very least, we trust the wisdom of the american people. there was a collapse in that ander and the year 2011 2012 when people of both parties said they no longer trust

americans and their political wisdom. when we look at the role of technology, and this is really interesting, because a couple of things are happening. the whole nature of civic engagement is changing at technology is enabling it. there aren't good ways to measure things that used to be consistently measured in the past. areloss of activities that civic engagements are going up. the club the people that went from the cajun nation to help the folks in houston. that was one of the greatest civic accident modern american history to you wouldn't count that in the old traditional measure. something big is going on, and yet americans are not participating in any of the classic ways much more than they did in the past. voting is going up at the level of engagement with officials is a little bit higher now thanks to the internet. the level of contact with local news organizations is about steady.

a mixed story about what is going on with civic engagement. in a way, we are expanding the nature of what it is. in another way, there is a positive story to tell. the importance is what we are studying here today. civic engagement is a pathway to civic involvement. the causal arrow points in both directions. the people who are physically aware are physically engaged in those who are simply engaged are physically aware. there's a virtuous cycle the people in this room ought to be proud of and ought to be nurturing. cokie: thank you, lee. in terms of nurturing, that is what these folks are doing. you herenow many of are representing presidential libraries in one way or another. heard at the fdr library and is here to talk

about the many things going on. paul: if we could get the slides up, i will stand up here so i can see them. the national archives is in some ways america's largest civic education ssent consortium -- civic education consortium. the fdr library was the first library and open in june of 1941 . at the opening, this is what fdr said. the latest addition to the archives of america is dedicated at a moment and government of the people by themselves is every architect. it is proof if proof is needed that our confidence in the future of democracy has not been diminished in this nation and will not diminish. the war is raging in europe and fdr has been elected to an unprecedented third term. one of his primary focuses is opening a presidential library. he wanted his records available to future historians. he knew the most important way to understand how the government works is to seek how it works and act -- and access the

documents. a revolutionary concept at this point. presidents just took their paper with them. it was considered personal property. has anional archives extraordinary reach. there are 466,871 people who came to facilities last year. over 5 million visitors to over all of art exhibits around the world. 30 million online visits, the vast majority of which were to presidential library sites. large footprint. we are having a dramatic interaction with the public in many ways. but what we haven't done particularly well is coordinate the resources being offered by the presidential library. today, the archivists have announced the launch of a new webpage combining out of the resources from various departments and units within the

national archives that brings all of this material together so teachers can come here and find distance learning programs, you didn't programs, teaching resources, you can see lesson plans here. do ise are trying to create a consolidated resource. this is something that has launched today, like a beta test site and we hope that it will grow. as we develop important civic resources for educators, we can start thinking of this as a clearinghouse. a much greater impact than we could ever have as a single unit. the distance learning campaign, on-site classes and online resources is a way for us to get out there and interact with the students and teachers who need it. so this is a brookings institute survey. things at the top are the things students do the least of.

you see the top 70% of students never write a letter to give an opinion or anything like that. see that how the proportions take place of the kinds of civic education and civic engagement in school. the only one that happens a majority of the time weekly his a discussion of current events. all of these other activities only happened rarely. how can we create activities that are going to engage people and inspire students to be engaged in their community? we have launched something in , andpark thanks to a donor phase one is to provide global teachers a test program with the specifics kits. they will select about 10 classes in the area and have these with the teachers. todecide which activities

do. running concurrently, understanding what is working in their classrooms. what is getting kids engaged in what is working. eventually, we hope taking the available.kes there were initially 25 different activities. they'resee whether doing an interview were in fake or real news. selecting the service activities. a new wave of civic education and civic engagement. we think these are important things because this generation does not want to be lectured to.

doing thingsys of that were actively participated. this is one of my favorite quotes from president roosevelt. we cannot succeed unless those safeguard democracy. the whole idea about education, we have to stop thinking about it as a one-way street. continue to lecture the next generation. we need to engage them and use words like what is your opinion, express yourself, get involved, be heard. demand respect. those are the things that engage the next generation of students. we have to think how we can do it more effectively. you represent a president, you're automatically talking about how the american government works. cokie: thank you. in terms of they don't want to

be lectured to, they want to participate, tom, that is down your alley. so, talk to us about the american village citizenship. tom: good afternoon. let me do a quick shout out to allowing us in this extraordinary american treasure. here are enshrined the charters of freedom and they are protected, but their best protection is what we do at the who comeel with those to our sites and with those whom we engage. you have seen a couple of surveys, i want to ask you to participate in a survey. how many of you have taught a

teenager how to drive a car? [laughter] keep your hands up if it is two or more. three or more? four plus? if you have taught a teenager to drive a car, you know the truth of the statement. you can pass the written test perfectly, but it does not mean you know how to drive a car. [laughter] child, we havech three passed the test with 100% and came out and i said ok, drive me home. and this precious child said ok, daddy, remind me which one is ake.br [laughter] i believe there is a parallel to .ivics, if you will

you can know the rules of the road but you need some practice time because the essence of the american system is participation. and, you need to know the rules of the road as well. it is really why the american village was created. we are located just south of birmingham. we serve students from five states. alabama, mississippi, tennessee, georgia, florida. becauseformed largely -- i won't say because of no child left behind, but unintended consequences which the speaker alluded to yesterday was that civics in american history were left behind as a result of that policy decision. on our campus, we have some presidential assets.

a full-sized east room and a recreation of the presidents house in philadelphia. i want to spend just a couple of minutes on our school programs because i believe some of them could be replicable at your own site. at least the principle of them. ride,s paul revere's which is not a presidential program obviously, but what we have tried to do is take what we know about young people and how they learn. we know that early childhood, education and vehicle pushed through play. paul revere's ride was only about play. we used different teaching strategies about how students learn in other programs.

one of our great young people programs for elementary is choose your george. programabulously fun where students contrast and compare. we do hats of the president in the oval office. we are employing methods of .ontrasting and comparing the stamp act rally starts things off and it is where we interpretationon of participation. students land in the middle of a scene and are called upon to be active participants. it is inspired by the coming together of the colonists for the first time for the protest of the stamp act.

constitutional convention, if i could channel jeffrey rosen, i would do so. i am passionate about it. you need to come see the constitutional convention. we do not set the topic. you can almost tell what is on the news by what the students bring up. , but ifa delegate their the president is in the news, you see that. if congress is in the news, that is the way the discussion goes. we know that experiencing things, participating creates deeper learning than merely a sage on the stage. that is the essence of those programs. all of the programs ultimately

involve choice. young people will face choices. we all face choices. the underground railroad is a great program and our freedom and one goes into, i wish you could see the students deeply participating in that and it is very participatory program. ist, i would single out here we do student mock election and student convention. we had 1500 and -- 1500 elegant at the convention and over 300,000 students vote in a mock election. let me tell you, a couple of quick lessons we have learned. our first assessment of urban, suburban, and rural school systems who sent students to us

demonstrated -- students did a writing sample and the university conducted the survey said there was a passionate commitment to freedom, but what was missing was an explicit linkage to an outlet for civic engagement. those channels and pathways for how to be involved needed to be more explicitly outlined for them. finding wasnificant one that i think parent -- bears our attention. students who had been through the program were involved in an assessment and they were asked about leadership. not rankhem did themselves as good leaders. almost universally, they gave the same answer and a small group setting. they did not know enough.

that is really a perplexing, but a sobering reality. students did not view themselves as leaders because they did not know enough. focus on what it is that is missing in that equation to make them active, positive contributors to our american pacific. the last challenge i would mention is this. i hear often, it is so boring to learn about the three branches of government. evidently, not many americans are learning about them. [laughter] there is an attorney who worked closely with dr. king, and he said i did not participate in the civil rights effort by marching, by peaceably assembling an address of grievances as a constitution

guarantee. i used the three branches of .overnment as an attorney his record is profound. i think we need to bring life to the three branches in our studies and i think that will be using real stories helps lift ness of that. the challenge and opportunity, these are the best of the times if we but know how to use them. our places are incredible teaching labs. you have resources that demonstrate the intentional tensions among the branches of government. records thats

demonstrate the contrast of public goods and private interest. you are on that. we must be advocates. must be more than stem because and jefferson said if a nation expects to be -- to remain ignorant and free come it expects what never was and never will be. every country in the world that wants to prosper needs math and science and reading. we are preparing our young people to be their own self governors. governance is based on active lifelong participation. our last commercial, we had a

question yesterday about the centennial. wordike you to say that with me. america's great 250th birthday party coming up. let's all plan to be part of that. cokie: thank you. [applause] louise, not only doing idiots to the kilts -- to the kids, but the futures. tell us what you are doing. louise: first, i want to thank david for this great opportunity to talk to you guys. this is not standing up. let's see if that will work. thank you so much. and stuart and anita for the great opportunity. i am the executive director of i civics. i think you've been depressed enough so i will skip through -- i think you know what the problems are. i think we can move along here. let's just say that on the k-12

public school side, it is no better. we are the worst performing is next to civics anybody know? which discipline performs worse than civics? history. our kids are 18% proficient in history and 23 profession -- 23% proficient on the nation's report cards exam which is not good. the is directly tied to fact that the younger you are, the less you believe in democracy. that is a problem that all of us should be worried about. as sandra dayst o'connor's legacy, the first woman on the supreme court. justice o'connor, along with justice scooter were really

concerned and are still about this fundamental value of civic education and our need to invest in that paradigm for we don't do that, we will not have the government that you deserve. justice sotomayor joined our board to three years ago to continue the legacy from the court. we also work with justice gorsuch. we are a nonpartisan organization and we really believe that we can make a difference with kids. how did supreme court justice think about how to bring fun, excitement to civics? she had no idea. so she went around and talked to ourt of people and decided, kids are gamers. they are video gamers. two teenagersr of who i'm just a little bit embarrassed to say's like fortnight that are than the

icivics games, but nevertheless i have not had to bribe them at all. they have been willing participants in trying out the icivics games. what does icivics do? all of our games are simulations or you can come and everything is free. and playome to icivics as the president of the united states. game executive command, you get bills from congress, you can either do what are you allowed to do, sign it or veto it. so you will find that out by playing this game. we have a game in which you can run your own campaign as a candidate for the white house, called when the white house. you can be a republican, democrat, choose your platform. you soon discover the electoral the size ofe and

your state and your campaign platform. please come i invite you to play all of our games. we have a new game coming out that is about literacy. -- about news literacy. with that, we started small and we now have 5 million kids a year and we keep growing. -- pretty exciting to us. that david reason might have asked me to speak here is that we are such a natural ownership between the presidential sites and a digital organization such as icivics. why are we so big in schools? when make it terribly easy. is all we need to do? absolutely not. we need civics labs, news

literacy, a whole lot of stuff and we need to work together, because we are on a common mission here. said,rriculum is copy and starts in fourth and fifth grade all the way through high school. games, but only everything you can imagine. please go and check it out. we have a lot of resources now in spanish. justice sotomayor made sure of that. it works. we have a lot of research paradigm will not bore you with the details, but you can find out. we won a lot of awards and i'm also not going to -- but it does beat to the fact that once we start that process of how my action causes a reaction in our civic process then begin that that will stay with you forever. , inparkland kids have said many different ways, that the

civics education that they received was part of channeling their action toward a civic -- in a civic way. whether you agree or not with what they are doing, there is that relationship that you find out about something in civics class and ultimately you find ways to address it in however you choose to address it. there is a circle that gets formed. now, 5 million kids is a lot, but it is not all kids. all kids is probably 10 million a year. to only way to get there is make for more room in the classroom. how do we do that? it happens at the state level. education is a state responsibility. on thattes are working now. i wanted to highlight three. i see my colleague who is actively working with us in

massachusetts. no one has more -- no one has done more to make that a reality. thank you. illinois, florida, those are three states, all different leaning that are actively working and have old legislation as well as social studies standards where we see a huge difference in the number of kids who receive a quality civic education and who are going to prioritize it in the classroom. that brings us to really why i am here. that is this idea of a partnership with the presidential site. facing -- not all of us are going to be able to work at the state level on the policy. we certainly do not do that. the question is, the national level, what could we do to favor

civic education and to make this a reality? we are pursuing sandra day o'connor's legacy and her devotion to this cause, to raising the visibility for the need for civic education for the democracy. to do that, we have formed a coalition. the coalition has a lot of people. a lot of very large organizations that have joined us. several libraries, presidential libraries have joined us. the idea here is to band together to have a unified voice to say we cannot go on like this . we must make a civics a priority. with that, i will thank you very much for this opportunity. [applause]

cokie: so i want to ask a couple of logistical questions before we get to the broader conversation, which everybody just jump in when we do that. louise, this is all done through classrooms or can i just sign up to icivics and play the games? you can just go on. we have two sites. one is for teachers and one is we have as and campaign right now where we encourage parents to play with their kids. both in english and in spanish. we bring them together. org and go on icivics. you can put some of them as apps on your ipad. cokie: how do you measure the number of students? louise: we have a record of every teacher that comes to our site, so if they come to the site, we have a record of her classroom and she gets signed

into the classroom and that's how we get the numbers. tom, do all of the students in your program come to your site? is it residential? is: it's not residential, it -- our out-of-state visitors typically will spend the night and we encourage them to go to the birmingham civil rights institute or other institutions. from those five southeastern states and our experience has been its we can get a teacher to come, they come back because it is such a participatory program. it's almost like seeing the light bulb go off. your estimate of how many kids you've reached? tom: almost 750,000. in theseust say,

states, and in my own state, 50% of the students are on free and reduced lunch. they don't travel often out-of-state and we try to give them a taste of a broader view of the united states. history andstry of ways in which to be active. cokie: do you do any kind of follow up? do you have any way of knowing whether it sticks? one, i will done call it a primitive longitudinal study. we are hampered by privacy concerns, being able to track -- aside from one student who famously remembered whatever they had to eat that can cite af them specific vignette that they were in and it is pretty neat.

cokie: i thought you nodding when he was saying the problems and going back to find this information out. is that one of the challenges? lee: yes, but it's probably not as hard. i think there are so many pathways now, to like the spark or set the spark off. it is so striking when you hear all sorts of stories about engagement. it is a good progression. people don't go from zero interest to all in come everywhere, every meeting, every donation. they progress. the stories about progression start often with educational experiences. and then stuff happens in the community. some of the most engaged people and their communities now are mommy bloggers. the reason they started posting stuff on the internet was

because they were going to have a kid or had just had a kid and they wanted to find others like them. it soon enough, especially around election time, they start talking about what is going on in their community and wider issues. there is a progression that is so easy to watch once you have that initial engagement. gers atwe love mommy blog the archives. it's how we get them to spend the night on a cold, marble floor. we now have overnights should you elect to join. a mommye you get blogger to start talking you up, it is gold. cokie: i still notice when you look at the demographics on civic knowledge, young people are much more ignorant. lee: and conventional civic education is being diminished.

are in a civics recession. so, that is a major part of the study. young people over time have never been is into it as older folks. these things progress over time. though isstressing the age-old pattern of the most physically engaged people are also the best off people. when the internet opened up, lots of new possibilities for civic and dayton. you did not have to have a lot of money to speak to a representative. there was a moment in 2004 and 2008 when new voices were coming in.

now it has come back. it is being replicated on the web just the way it was in the free web era. cokie: paul, do you want to address that? paul: i think you have seen a shifting from traditional computers to cell phones. a lot of the material originally available for participation was internet based, not mobile-based. as we are shifting toward a user friendly content, you are starting to see more availability. particularly in immigrant communities and homes, sometimes there is only one phone and that is the primary pathway to the content on the internet. it is difficult in a way that was very different than 15 years ago when the only way to get on the internet was through your computer. changes, as technology in one way it makes it more

available and in another way it makes it harder. doesn't that put the burden on all of you all to keep up with the technology? absolutely. but the key is, it is always about the stories. we think of ourselves as storytellers paired everyone has a great story to tell and the story you tell is a stomachs story. is a civics story. learning how to tell it in a compelling way makes people care. story to got a great tell about your president or presidential site, people want to hear that. you have to start with the great story. story you cane find a way to put it on someone's phone and inspires them. jeff talked about how one of the things with to do is plant the seed. you can't tell the whole story in their visit to our site. all we can do is plant the seed and hope as they go home that the seed grows into an interest which over time evolves into a civic leading gauge person and

they don't go from zero to 100. it takes time. one of the reasons older people know more about civics is they have had a longer time to learn. cokie: right. more years behind us. [laughter] go ahead, tom. tom: i might comment on the planting the seed. we designed our program around this question. how many sentences will be get at the supper table tonight when the child goes home? and what kind of sentences and we hope they might say? ideally, we would hope that perhaps they are either reinforcing something to parents know or maybe introducing them to something they don't know. i think, if you have young children in your family, it really is like that.

what is the nugget that you leave with? cokie: it's what we call the lead. i just think sometimes, you know david macola -- david history toowe make difficult. it's really two words. tell stories. cokie: it is story. a lot is the fault of the textbook, and the dates to we really don't need to know all those dates. they're all taking up a lot of room in my poor old brain. also, that's what the sites can do so much better. they can tell the whole story of the whole family, particularly the wives in this case at some point, please god, let it be the and it's much more

alive or you can relate to it so much more. so, it makes the responsibility that much greater. home and museum is a combined sites of the national park service site which manages the home and eleanor roosevelt's home in the national archives managed site which is the library museum. one of the things that happens is that the homesite, the national parks have started a program engaging for the fifth graders to get them involved in making decisions about what kind of service programs they want to do. they came in his fourth graders, decided with the going to do, a set of nine proposals and this year they go back as fifth graders and the class does that program. cokie: so give us an example. paul: i don't know what the nine things they chose were, but -- the food kitchen, to help pick thea neighborhood or

involved with transportation, whatever that fifth-grade class decides to do. but the point was committed shift the responsibility from us, the national park service, to the students and empower them to come up with their ideas by's rather than saying here is your homework assignment. process the democratic and they become engaged in whatever they decide to do and execute that. doesn'tsomething that cost anything. everyone of us can do that. it is a question of understanding where is the key entry point? you've got 20 minutes with them or 35 minutes, how do you plant the seeds of it when they leave . cokie: i was interested in what you said about the parkland students. that is really encouraging. we need encouragement. the fact that they were able to take what they had learned in school and use it for civic engagement. how did they express that?

boston so, they were in over last spring and we talked to them. they also tweeted out support for civics class. text, i didn'ton have time to go into it, but florida passed the sandra day o'connor civics act in 2010. it took some time to be implemented. it was a major company hence commitment from the state of florida including money for teacher professional development and many other things. and in a valuation of the school. all of those things together -- for example 80% of kids in florida use icivics. it every kid in florida gets proper civics education. theent back and traced

middle school from which the parkland kids at marjorie stoneman douglas came and 85% proficiency at the end of class exams and civics. so, obviously there are many factors and it is a terrible tragedy. he got very, very strong teaching and there are lots of different factors. isare taking credit, but it -- there is a context for that kind of civic engagement. that is the best argument for impact, when a state actually takes it seriously. illinois is doing a different primarily the same, from the high school and now possibly middle school. in massachusetts, we are just about to pass legislation to change the social studies standards to have a new civics class. those are all things that can be done and i think that if there were a national voice speaking

to this issue, we would have a lot more facility to pass state legislation of this kind and to make movement. cokie: it sounds like one goal you all should take away from here after this day in washington is basically lobbying. need toe legislatures put civics back in the school. what really happens in a lot of cases, and you know better than i, it got eliminated from the testing, and once it is eliminated from the testing, the teachers stop teaching it. at a time when you can make a case that it could be a stupider time to stop teaching civics and history. >> the national assessment of educational process, which had been benchmarking performance in history and civics has been dropped now and it was measuring fourth grade, eighth grade, and 12 great performance and it has now dropped due to budget

reasons. cokie: that's what i meant about testing. i was curious, you talked about a 2011 and 2012, the trust dropped off. why? lee: lack of confidence in the political wisdom of other americans. it was partly a feeling that everybody feels that they are losing. even folks whose party won the presidential, u.s. people now and they all think that their site is losing more political battles than they are winning. it is partly -- cokie: who do they think is winning? lee: the other guy. of theartly a culture media. the easiest way to get someone's attention is to save the world is falling apart in the way that you understand it in the way that you care about it. in thisry much bound up systemic problem that we have of declining trust in institutions,

combined with polarization. there are big streams feeding this. cokie: did something happen in that time period? lee: the 2012 election. but it was striking. both sides. bottom, who should make decisions, a fellow citizen wrote the last one to tumble, but both sides right at that moment and partly because it was contentious and partly because people were more manipulated and feeding off the system and things like that. so, it is very much a part of the larger cultural story that we are all telling each other. cokie: do you all see that among the kids? a cynicism about the country and the ability to govern? yes.e: the question is whether teachers are enabled and empowered to take whatever -- however the

child comes in and be able to give them some confidence that this structure that is established has foundations that they can work with. they can feel part of and that they can work with. , dates, exactly the rules -- but the system of checks and balances that we have. that is fundamental. we note the philosophical roots of these things. we need kids to really imbue why that matters and why that is important and why they are a part of it. that's really the process that needs to occur. but, when they come in, a lot of times, they look at our teachers and say you know what, this has nothing to do with me. this system is rigged against me and -- that is the cynicism we must overcome. teachers are such a critical

part of overcoming that. >> but it's an ecosystem, right? parentsinfluence that have on teenagers in particular is down here. the influence their peers have on them is way appear. so, it is a disproportionate influence sector. we think, the schools can fix everything. the schools can't. one of the problems with the ability of their peers to influence them is that they don't have sophisticated tools for analyzing the information flow coming at them like a fire hose. social media has completely transformed the way information is exchanged. it has eliminated all filters and they don't have the tools to understand this is from a credible source, this is not from a credible source. my best friend jimmy said this so it must be true. that ecosystem is what we have to find a way to change because that ecosystem is civics writ large.

i think this news literacy which has come up in a number programs that we've seen over the last couple days is a critical part. on the presidential site, we have to understand we have to put our president in the context of what the ecosystem was when they were alive in a way that students today can relate back to. the newspapers for john adams in the 1800 election against jefferson were as crazily partisan as anything you see today. the population understood that that is what it was. cokie: one of my favorite stories from the 1800 election was one of the new paper said come home with england with four women, to for him and two for adams. [laughter] that ecosystem includes a lot of

political conversation. that half of the people said that they have a political conversation at least once a week. that sounds so relaxing to me. [laughter] again, older people much more than younger people. is that conversation contributing to people being engaged or driving people away? lee: it helps. politics is not the be-all and in doll. about half of americans do not get political information through their social media page. it is not in their network and it is not what they want to talk about. they avoid people who talk about it too much. if you are talking about the stuff at the dinner table, it is

one of those things that brings you to further engagement. this is a tough thing that most partisan people are also the most engaged. one of the awkward hydraulics of this. the other thing that is so interesting to watch in social all, is that -- first of it surfaces information about your buddies you did not know. all of a sudden they say this weird thing that you did not understand that they thought that way. there are sorts of awkward conversations that go on in friendships. there is a long-standing communication finding that says if you do not think the people in your audience -- yourself center.

in social media, you get lots more signals about those who did -- agree and disagree with you. people do not want to grief with it. we are going to turn to your questions shortly. we have microphones on either side and you can just start lining up behind them. that would be a good thing to do. so, i know we talk about this all the time and we are always trying to find our way. ist we keep coming back to -- when you cited that number about people think bipartisanship is not happening, they are right. it is also true that they do not reported. they reward partisanship.

you're part of what trying to deal with in civic education? trying to get on board in the ?ame page act o >> i would say yes. i think it is the undercurrent of -- a bridge in 1775 or a bridge in 1965, the theme has been liberty. freedom, we have acquired it at the same time. for many, it represented a tougher struggle. it is what unites us. -- even think we have though we have our strong

political opinions -- fortunately, i'm in a job where you're not expected to express them. [laughter] think there is -- senseof obligation of obligation we have to help remind our fellow americans that we have more in common than divides us. in the most bitter political -- was talking about lookentennial and he said no further than john adams and thomas jefferson and a bitter .ivalry and how they reconciled said abigail is

not a part of this. [laughter] i don't want to hear from her. she did not know. , sheshe discovered it started writing to him. so, go ahead. >> good afternoon, thank you so much. of educationctor at the reagan presidential library and museum. -- reagan presidential library museum. here with all of my colleagues and many of us are as one woman bands alone in the wilderness. creating what are some

exceptional opportunities across the country, engaging young people so that they can see themselves in history and can find their voice and feel empowered. at the reagan library as well as the bush library and hopefully at the truman library, we have -- thanks to the tireless efforts of the people who raised the funds to create the opportunity for students who actually participate in a , theylogically simulation work as members of the press and government. they are finding their voice and exploring their roles. they have an opportunity to answer not just how the government works but why is the government established in this way. and how can you play a role in this when you become a motor. my question is probably the

toughest question of the day. i will take credit for that. where does the funding and the support come for all this work that needs to be done? paul? [laughter] ultimately -- >> when you have the press and the government, do you have somebody blame reagan? currentr simulation, we do not mention ,he name of the president president reagan is never utilized in our simulation. >> i think the funding issue is an important question because there is no same answer.

we have a hundred different sites and 100 different models. think the public-private partnership is where the world is and within that spectrum, you have to figure out if you're 100% private or somewhere in between. part of our mission is to tell stories that people care about that they want to support others. whether they want to support us directly by writing a trek -- check. that is a part of our job. it is to convince people that what we do is important. it is part of the fabric of american history. is not justproblem how do we get the money? how do we tell our stories to other people so that they want to support us and see where we fit

in their vision of what america is supposed to be. i think philanthropy is changing. i think in that context, the evolving nature of philanthropy, the partner is greater than before. i feel like if they can go it , theyand make the case are on the wrong court. we need to be together to show impact. i will leave it at that. in some respects, there is a wonderful book called what would google do? one of the chapters is called do

what you do best. there is not any reason why everybody in this room who wants -- no matter who your present is best present is -- president is. the point about impact is terribly important. what we are learning is that people are not interested -- are interested. they don't want to just have their name on something. they want to have the program work. >> the technology german philanthropist want to see some kind of revenue-generating model. who else is going to be supporting this. they don't want to just give you a check on -- and have their name on it. they want to know what you're

doing to become sustainable. >> they want to become involved. >> they say is this scalable. we work on the retail level. people come to us and try to tell one person at a time what our stories are. we have to find a wii's -- way to be scalable. that is one of the challenges. we cannot prove that we are reaching one million people, it is harder to get the funding in the future. >> one comment about public funding. it is not the most glamorous approach. but, in meetings with public itislators, i have described as a pragmatic self interest. paying good civic habits

because we have not cultivated those. .ou look at people imprisoned that is a failure of good civic it is better to invest on the front end. others are respected because they understand some pragmatics about that. part of our advocacy is to promote -- if you go to john adams and the massachusetts constitution, there is no finer description of what an ideal civic life is, go to the constitution and read it. that is what we should be aspiring, vibrant, positive, civic in all of our engagements.

ofi am the director education at andrew jackson's hermitage in nashville. we primarily deal with 9, 10, and 11-year-olds. there is a great deal of cynicism coming in with the children at these ages. all i can think is for a nine-year-old, where does that come from? is a repetition of what they hear from parents and teachers and from older adults in their lives. is, while we work so hard to adjust those issues on the k-12 level, our work is only as good as the other adults in their lives. how are we defeating the arguments they here at home? how do we defeat the voices they hear in the media. what are you doing to support ongoing civics education past

the k-12 level. do you have a way of following students pass that 12th grade level? do you offer programs on remedial civics education for adults. to remind them of those earlier lessons that they have had. thank you. idea was say that your an idea of a funder of hours. why don't we take what you've got and bring it to the adults because clearly we have a problem. it, in passing as democracy at play. it helps parents and kids to play together but also on immigrant websites or organizations that work with immigrant populations or work with different aggregations of adult populations. the answer is i do not know yet.

we are in the process of doing that. you have a great idea. a part of me agrees with you. [laughter] often isvic education creating for the children. there is suddenly a school board election where you say "oh my god" this is going to matter to my kids. i see the red light at the corner. that is the way people get cynically educated. in the issue or campaign of some kind. >> there is a diff between 18 -- 18 andls 30-year-olds. tois difficult for them think on big issues like the nature of democracy.

to engage that young adult population, you have to be issue driven. something a lot of federal sites can't do. it is a challenge in how you engage that demographic. -- weou can't say this support this issue. we can't do that. what we can do is say make a decision about what matters to you and go try to make a change in your community. that is all we can do within that context. that demographic is a critical one. cokie: you're always hearing that young people don't like politics but they like volunteerism. they want to be engaged in something. have you seen that in the data? >> yep.

in the way they put into effect in their lives. what is different is that it tends to be methodic. they will solve the problem and in the group that solves the problem does not necessarily stay together. iny solve their problems different ways with different people. it has a network quality to it. the other thing about this broader phenomenon is there is some hopeful data about this. 73% of american adults describe themselves as lifelong winners. we suspect that is a higher number than in the past. nobody used that phrase 20 years ago. the great recession was a starting point for them. so many industries and businesses collapsed or struggled and there was an agonizing reappraisal. is my company going to survive in the future? they startk people,

to say i have to keep myself prepared. the second reason they like to think of themselves as that is out to his him. they are solving some problem and being more effective. david: just -- lee: there is an emerging thought that we have a little bit of data on that people are competent at the local level. their voice matters. there is a capacity for bipartisanship. >> i also noticed there is a tremendous support for service leadership. i guess that goes together with the idea of doing something in the community.

is they example of that were trying to adjust a problem but it was unclear -- particularly good leaders in different aspects of it. go ahead. parksm with the national service. most of my question has been a just. i do have one technical question , for mr. rainey. trainerlot of train the . i am curious if your data has drilled down further to talk a lot about the kids -- we have talked about the kids. i'm curious about the teachers themselves. and about their intelligence. been --ve not

>> there have not been samples on that, generally. it is a mixed bag. notany teachers now, are necessarily trained in the subject that they are teaching. the phenomenon you have described is a network thing. if you can find people who will evangelize for you and spread the word for you, you have multiplied your capacity and will have an impact. what a great job you do. in terms of history. websites, the solid information. and the reenactors and all of that. thank you.

>> i think there is a great need for professor involvement in the field. there is no doubt. many teachers are asking for just the basics. to be top as they are being asked to do more and more. engaging, both sides are very much needed. the question is whether we have the resources. >> i am lindsey richardson. listening -- the daily plaza. >> everybody knows this is the kennedy assassination. >> my question is not geared in that way. [laughter]

i was listening to you icivics.g the i'm going to try that on my kids. i live closer to you. does that look like the fun thing kids would enjoy? it was making me think about my own education in american civics and government and history and economics. lots thinking, there were a of different ways i was taught that. it was not just one game or one class or one program. pervasive, a cultural approach. it goes from a young age through college and beyond that. i imagine that is true for a lot of people in the room. i just wanted to ask you, as a representative of our group to share some of your stories about how you learned some of these american civics lessons yourself. >> i will start.

i am an immigrant. i have immigration down. [laughter] [applause] >> wherefrom? >> i am from canada. granddadsed from to who never held office or anything like that, interested in politics and just their example of living out the lives of being engaged in their communities. i will -- if stewart does not mine, i will share a story about your element school trip to washington -- you're elementary school trip to washington. out that we grew up

from each other and did not know each other. i'm older than he is. [laughter] that meant the world to be. i try with our staff to say this and i know you do with your staff. we need young people coming into our doors, there is no telling what they will do if they are inspired. >> you raise a couple of interesting things. people were expected to be involved. if you are an upright citizen, you were involved. that expectation has gone away. that is clearly part of the problem. you told us before we came out on stage that your kids in alabama, mississippi, seldom

make those kinds of trips. we see the fifth-grade chip and the eighth grade trip and they make you crazy. but, your kids do not have that opportunity. pragmatics. i have had the opportunity to volunteer for washington. [laughter] i love kids. the third grade trip doing spurred with my grandkids. [laughter] i am going straight to heaven. [laughter] i grew up in the 60's. i had both extraordinary integration of the nasa and ran

-- program. .nd the vietnam war i had friends who died. civic not think of it as education at that point. we thought about it as what is happening in our society on a daily basis. south in thee civil rights movement. whether it was landing a man on the moon, there was a sense that all americans were involved every single day. i was an avid consumer of news and interested in history from the time i was a little kid. i had reading disabilities when i was young; work with me. -- those were the books i was reading. i think there is a disconnect today that people do not think

politics affects them directly. don'tar all the time, i care about politics. i don't watch news and i don't pay attention. for us, it was literally life and death, what is going to happen to you on a daily basis. i'm not sure how we get back to how we get people to understand the things that happen in washington are going to directly affect you. >> i don't know what made me turn this way but i decided after i. have a concert there was nothing more exciting to do than be a political reporter. her husband worked for competing newspapers. when you get a press pass, it is a calling card.

to figure stuff out. [laughter] especially if you do not have a belief system. the puzzle of solving part of it washe expiration part of it dramatic as all get out. i skipped school on days where there was not any important debates. fact, this is the nerdiest seven, ien i turned woke up excited because i could to in the public gallery and not in the family gallery. [laughter] i have never had a moment in my

life where i was not completely involved. this summit has been incredibly useful. everybody has learned. items andith agenda come back together in a couple of years with new things and new ideas to pursue. thank you very much. you.avid, always, thank isn't that great. [applause] for having us in your home. and thank you to the panel. also should be taking

advantage of, that is the celebration of john mccain's life. who dideeing someone feel much more united than divides us. sacrificed, hehe served, celebrated the country, he believed so strongly that unity was the underlying feature. whether it is played over and was thence he died woman at the town hall who said i do not trust obama, and he said no man. -- ma'am. at the convention with the screaming delegates with the stupid hats. he is giving the acceptance speech. passion on moment of

andpart of the delegates they are screaming their heads off. everything he says is revved up. it is the most partisan moment you have every four years. talke said, now i want to to the democrats. we will have many debates in the course of this campaign, but we are americans, more unites us than divides us. an extraordinary moment. deeply aboutre this country and making sure people understand why the things we care about in terms of government and education are important, take this moment and toarge it and take it back

make it useful in years to come. no better cheated could be paid to him. -- tribute could be paid to him. [applause] >> we will see you later. this weekend on the american history on c-span3, tonight at 8:00, on lectures in history, university of delaware professor tiffany on the role of african-american women in the civil rights movement. the0:00 on railamerica, 1968 and. the 30th at 7:00, anniversary of the tenement museum in new york city.

at 8:00 on the presidency, former first lady barbara bush and laura bush reflect on her life and legacy. watch on american history tv, this weekend on c-span3. new york times best-selling officer -- arthur, on sunday, november 4 at noon. her most recent book a spark of light. other books include the storyteller, lone wolf, was 20 more novel should she has written issues of the wonder woman comic for d.c. comics. watch in-depth fiction addition, live sunday, november 4 from noon until 3:00. watch when brad will be our guest. on book tv. on c-span two. >> former first lady barbara

bush died this past april. next on "the presidency," her son and 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush, introduces a panel of speakers who reminisce about his mother. she was only the second woman in history to be married to one president and the mother of another. the george w. bush presidential center hosted this 45-minute event. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. [applause] pres. bush: please be seated. thank you. romo, mother would have liked you a lot. [laughter]