A free society must rely on the knowledge, skills, and virtue of its citizens and those they elect to public office. The primary opportunity for most American citizens to acquire the knowledge and dispositions essential for informed, effective citizenship is during their school years. Civic education, therefore, is vital to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy. Today, more than ever before, our young people need to understand how our democracy works and how they can help to keep and improve it. The forces of technological, social and demographic change have the potential to pull us farther apart unless greater attention is paid to the values and principles that unite us as Americans. We must be guided by those values and principles and act upon them in order to narrow the gap between our ideals and the reality of daily life in our communities and nation.

In keeping with its mission of promoting an enlightened, competent and responsible citizenry, the Center for Civic Education is launching a Campaign to Promote Civic Education. This Campaign has two important objectives. The first is to reaffirm the civic mission of our nation's schools and the second is to encourage states and school districts to devote sustained and systematic attention to civic education from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

How the Campaign to Promote Civic Education Will Be Won
The Campaign seeks to strengthen instruction in civics and government and to reaffirm the traditional civic mission of the schools by promoting the establishment of curricular requirements and instruction in accord with the following principles:

• Education in civics and government is a central purpose of education, essential to the well being of American democracy.
• Civics and government is a subject on a level with other subjects. Civics and government, like history and geography, is an integrative and interdisciplinary subject.
• Civics and government should be taught explicitly and systematically to all students kindergarten through twelfth grade, whether as separate units or as readily identifiable parts of other subjects.
• Effective instruction in civics and government requires attention to the content of the discipline as well as the essential skills, principles, and values required for full participation in and reasoned commitment to our democratic system.

Charles N. Quigley, Executive Director
Center for Civic Education
5146 Douglas Fir Road
Calabasas, CA 91302