A conservative idea of civics would emphasize a moral education in traditional values and practices.  Conservatives believe mutual respect, honesty, fairness, and hard work has been overshadowed by the pursuit of self and instant gratification.  They believe our public schools have neglected the importance of public morality.  They also feel we need to instill a love for our country; which includes its historical figures and practices.

The liberals stress multiculturalism and the need to develop a new American identity which reflects the diversity in our nation. School should emphasize learning about the lives and cultures of traditionally marginalized groups so to understand the "diversity” of perspectives brought to bear on the history of our country. 

Liberal philosophy reflected in educational curriculum at most universities and within the NEA has had the following results. As part of their multicultural agenda, our students are taught how our nation has failed to live up to its ideals of liberty and justice but they are not receiving an adequate amount of the information that would make them understand and revere our historical figures and American practices.  Because the phrase "One nation under God” doesn’t portray the religious belief of a minority of our citizens, it is treated as divisive rhetoric.  In their view, our common culture should be expanded to encompass all of those who reside within our borders.  This has had the unfortunate result of promoting separatism.  Their belief that separation of church and state means there should be no religion at all in our schools has undermined the teaching of moral values.

Heterogeneous learning environments became "politically correct” so to expose our students to other possibilities conducive to building a common culture.  Tracking has become the way of the past.  Teachers now have a burden of individualizing all their lesson plans to meet the needs of every student (a labor intensive task), and teaching students that come to class with a variety of different ability levels and needs (no student gets enough attention).  Higher educational costs are incurred to accommodate smaller class sizes in response to lowered educational performance yet it has had no significant effect on improving student test scores.

A renewed emphasis on civic education must accommodate both conservative and liberal philosophy when developing the plan to implement it in our schools.  I contend that the single mindedness, with which the liberal goal of multiculturalism was achieved, sanctioned an extreme educational agenda to the detriment of our nation’s school systems.  Though students are no longer insulated from the diversity of culture around them, too many of our students graduate without subject mastery, the ability to make reasoned and informed decisions, and an inability to understand the complexities that must be considered when making any decision affecting the people of the United States. 

Nancy Salvato is a middle school teacher in Illinois and an independent contractor for Prism Educational Consulting. She is the Educational Liaison to IL Sen. Ray Soden and she works with national and local organizations furthering the cause of Civic Education. She is a columnist for American Daily, The Common Voice, GOP-USA, OpinionEditorials and The New Media Journal.us. Her writing has been recognized by the US Secretary of Education. She has been published in The Washington Times, The Washington Dispatch, Iconoclast, Free Republic Network & Townhall.com., as well as other nationally and internationally published media outlets.