O’CONNOR: BOOST CIVIC EDUCATION

By KATHLEEN HAUGHNEY, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA, THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, April 7, 2009....

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor brought her campaign for civics education to Tallahassee Tuesday, addressing the Florida Legislature about the importance of teaching social studies in American schools. “It's about teaching students that one person can ignite political fires on the ground and those fires almost always begin with a very small spark,” she said in her address to the joint session of the Florida Legislature.

O'Connor, who was the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1981, retired in 2006. Since her retirement, she has focused on pushing civics education, saying she became increasingly aware of the lack of knowledge many people had about government, particularly the courts.

In connection with Georgetown University and Arizona State University, she has launched http://www.ourcourts.org/, a site designed to promote interactive civics curriculum to students and teachers. She even touted the site on The Daily Show. O'Connor said she believes using an interactive site was a “powerful tool” that could educate students.

Her visit comes just as the House's PreK-12 appropriations committee is looking at a bill requiring an end-of-course civics assessment for all Florida students. The bill was previously scheduled for a committee vote, but pulled off the calendar so that a few tweaks could be made, said committee chair Anitere Flores, R-Miami. Flores said she cannot guarantee the measure will come to a vote because she is unsure if her committee will meet again before the end of the legislative session. However, she said she is hopeful that the committee will be able to take up the measure before the end of session. “It's very sad that we know that more people know about American Idol than about the President of the United States,” Flores said. “We need to have a concerted effort to curb that.”--END--04/07/09