Teachers as Civic Myth Busters
Teachers as Civic Myth Busters
by: Dr. Alan Sears, Dr. Carla L. Peck, Dr. Kenneth Boyd, Dr. Dimitrios Pavlounis
date: October 15, 2025
Fostering thoughtful civic engagement has long been identified as an important goal for public education systems across the democratic world including Canada. That said, levels of civic engagement among young people have been a persistent concern in academic, public policy, and professional literature for some time (e.g. Sears & Hyslop-Margison, 2007; Max Bell Foundation). Youth engagement is often described as being in crisis with rates of voter participation, as one example, showing dramatic declines. As the scenarios that follow show, all is not lost. Effective teachers are engaging the young citizens in their classes in civic issues in ways that challenge persistent myths about civic education and link formal politics with involvement in grassroots action and civil society groups of various kinds. We can learn a lot from these educators.