Back to school bells are ringing up-and-down the Susquehanna River Valley this week. The peal of these bells reminds me about a quick briefing that Luke Bernstein, President of the PA Chamber gave to me and my fellow local Chamber leaders late last spring.
Luke told us about the inaugural Pennsylvania Civics Bee which he had overseen earlier that week. Luke is a glass-is-always-half-full, bighearted, positive guy. As he spoke about his experience, he absolutely gushed reminiscing, “…red, white, and blue streamers decorating the room. Proud family members looked on, alongside of them were nervous coaches, teachers, and supporters as a roomful of middle school students focused their attention on the work in front of them.” Luke’s explanation of the event was pure Americana and serves as my motivation to how your Chamber might get involved.
In a “Putnam County Spelling Bee” formality and format, the participants in the PA Chamber’s first-ever Pennsylvania Civics Bee faced timed, multiple-choice questions such as: “How did the U.S. Constitution address the problem under the Articles of Confederation that Congress had no power to ensure its laws were followed by the states?” (Answer: It created an executive branch to enforce laws.)
On a lighter side, questions ran along the lines of: “Which of the following people have their face on U.S. currency but were not U.S. presidents?” (Answer: Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin). If your immediate thought is – ‘Wow, those questions are tough!’ You’re not alone. These are civics questions, and civics unfortunately isn’t a familiar topic for too many Americans today.
In fact, the nation’s overall civics knowledge has fallen significantly, with nearly half of the country unable to name our three branches of government, and 79 percent of 8th graders now scoring below proficient in civics.
As President Nelson Mandela’s introductory quote inspires us, education is the very best tool to use in turning this tide of so many young people not having a clear understanding of their own nation’s basic governance and civic foundations. The disturbing trend of seemingly ever-growing division and polarization can and will be stemmed through education, experience, and understanding.
As PA Chamber President and CEO Luke Bernstein told the assembled Civics Bee audience, “Civics isn’t just about teaching history. When taught effectively, it’s about giving students the tools to apply knowledge so they can become active participants in their communities.”
For this first-ever PA Civics Bee, five of our peer local chambers, including Centre County and the Harrisburg Regional Chambers participated. Chamber volunteers judged hundreds of essay submissions, held regional civics bees, and selected the 15 finalists who then advanced to the statewide contest.
This type of volunteer activity sounds like a lot of fun to me, and likely to you as well. With this in mind, during the coming month, I’m going to pitch the idea of a Greater Susquehanna Valley Civics Bee, to the members of both our Business & Education Committee and to our Governmental Affairs Committee. Working alongside our friends at the PA Chamber, maybe we can inspire a couple of our ‘best and brightest’ Middle Schoolers, along with their coaches, parents, and teachers to travel to our state Capital to compete against and meet with other future leaders and passionate participants in democracy?
At your Chamber of Commerce, and by working together, our best days lie just ahead.
