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Column: Democratic participation begins in the classroom

staradvertiser.com · 4h · first reportShare

Hawaii asks every public high school graduate to take a course called Participation in a Democracy. The name is the point. The state’s standards for the course expect students to “construct arguments and explanations” while “acknowledging counterclaims,” to apply “deliberative strategies” to local problems, and to “plan and demonstrate” ways an active citizen can effect change, with examples like “providing a forum for debate” and “providing public testimony.”