Civics Op-Ed Reflection

constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of

colour”.Conservative pundits and politicians have taken an opposition stance to a higher

education theory, or framework that says what many already see as fact, that the racial divide in

this country, or anywhere else is due to institutional problems made by people who did not see all

people as equal. It also says that some of those institutional barriers still exist today. While this is

an important conversation to have as a society and we all should do what we can to break down

these barriers, it is not in our schools. What is in our schools is history, and we need to ensure we

are teaching an accurate history of our county. That is how we live up to the American dream.

In the 88th session and in local school boards across the state, we must demand that our

community leaders continue to advocate for engaging civics to be taught and, regardless of its

uncomfortably and work hard to ensure that students are being taught their obligations as a

citizen.

For this revision piece I mostly focused on the edits recommended by the Professor, and I

believe through those I have successfully addressed the concerns of my peers. To start with I got

rid of my introduction that included a definition and instead got right to the point on how civics

education should be taught in schools. The Professor gave me two different paths that I could

take when it came to an introduction, getting to the point through talking about the 87th

legislative session or talking about civics education. I choose to discuss the context of and

foundations of civics education. The definition was something that I thought was sort of

interesting, but after looking at all the comments, it was clear that the Professor, and my peers

thought this was not the best way to go. After reviewing their thoughts, I agreed and re-structured

the beginning. This also helped me in addressing the issue of having a better flow throughout the

essay, as my peers also said it came off as a tad choppy and bounced around. While it did not

shorten the intro, it did make it more succinct, which made it better.

The other major revision within the piece is that I went and explained a few things more

in detail regarding the 87th legislative session. Through my professor, and peer’s comments, I

learned that some of what I was saying could get confusing, or maybe people just didn’t know

what had happened. Therefore, I explained what action civics was and what bills I was and

wasn’t supporting. I talked about how the bill that passed HB3979, threatens teacher’s autonomy

in the classroom and explained how the Legislature has failed miserably at their goals. This not

only addressed Professor Eakman’s concerns but also clarified my topic and organized the

legislation section more.

With more time, one edit suggestion I did not do that I might have would be trying to end

on a more optimistic point. I do a call to action, but I would have really enjoyed using some

examples where the people where able to make a change through civic engagement. I also have

done some thinking and believe that maybe I have two different op-eds within this rough draft. I

have one on civics like what I have done with a history and a call to action. The other op-ed

which mostly deleted could be one on the role of the citizen.