Civic education and civic responsibility should be taught in

Hear the words of Donna Brazile, a voice forged in the struggles of politics and justice, who declared: “Civic education and civic responsibility should be taught in elementary school.” These words, though spoken simply, resound like the toll of a bell through the ages. For they remind us that a people’s strength does not rest in arms or wealth alone, but in the character of its citizens. And that character, if it is to serve freedom and democracy, must be shaped early, when the heart is still soft and the mind is still eager to learn.

For what is civic education but the teaching of how a citizen belongs to the greater body of the nation? It is the knowledge of laws, of rights, of duties, of the ways in which a free people governs itself. And what is civic responsibility but the discipline of living not only for oneself, but for the common good—of voting, serving, protecting, and caring for one’s neighbors as part of the sacred fabric of society? If these things are taught late, when habits are hardened, the lesson may fall upon deaf ears. But if they are sown in childhood, they take root deep within the soul.

History itself confirms this truth. In ancient Greece, the city of Sparta taught its children from the earliest age not merely to fight, but to serve the polis, to understand their duty as citizens. In Athens, too, education was not only in letters and numbers, but in the duties of citizenship—so that young men, upon reaching manhood, would know their place in the assembly and their role in democracy. It was this early training that gave rise to a culture where citizens valued participation and sacrifice for the whole.

Consider also the example of the United States in its infancy. When the Republic was young, leaders like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin declared that democracy could not survive without an educated citizenry. They pressed for schools not only to teach reading and arithmetic, but to instruct the youth in civic virtue. For they knew that liberty without responsibility would decay into chaos, and that democracy without informed citizens would collapse into tyranny.

Donna Brazile’s cry is thus a renewal of this ancient wisdom: if America wishes to endure, it must teach its children from the earliest years that they are not merely individuals, but citizens. The seeds of civic responsibility must be planted in the classroom alongside the alphabet and the multiplication table. For in truth, what use is literacy if it does not also teach a man how to read the ballot? What use is arithmetic if it does not also teach him to weigh justice and injustice?

The wisdom of this quote is also a warning. In our age, many grow to adulthood without understanding how their government works, without respect for the power of their voice, without the habit of civic duty. Such ignorance weakens the republic, leaving it vulnerable to corruption and manipulation. But a nation that raises its children in civic knowledge is like a tree with deep roots—able to withstand storms and flourish in every season.

Therefore, O listener, take this lesson into your life: do not wait until maturity to practice citizenship. Teach your children early the meaning of duty, the value of their vote, the sacredness of serving the common good. If you are a parent, discuss with them the news, the laws, the meaning of fairness. If you are a teacher, weave lessons of democracy into your daily work. If you are a citizen, model responsibility, for children learn more from what is lived than from what is spoken.

For as Donna Brazile declared, civic education and civic responsibility must begin in elementary school. For if we train the young to understand their place in the republic, we ensure that the future will not be led by ignorance but by wisdom, not by selfishness but by duty. And thus, the nation shall endure, strong and free, through the generations to come.