ABC’s the Mayor does an excellence job of showing the relationships of the Mayor’s Office and City Council. The Mayor is a family, friendly show that empowers children and citizens by reenforcing the importance of civic duty. The show can help produce great lessons around the importance of civic engagement through connecting real life situations to the government system.
Understanding the inner working of the government is important for all citizens. As an Educator, I believe that improving this begins with more exposure and experience with our youth to the government system. There are so many issues with police brutality and community engagement driving the distrust of elected officials. The blatant lack of transparency from certain leaders doesn’t help engagement. Perhaps it is time to take a different approach with how citizens are engaged in the process. Far too long, Social Studies standards have been placed on the back burner due to school districts focusing in on Math and ELA. We cannot expect to have productive citizens if our students are not effectively learning about the process.
As many cities across the Nation are about to be engaged in elections this upcoming November, the Mayor reminds us of why we should seek candidates who are not only experienced but are connected to the true issues our communities face. Politics can be dirty, but having the right persons in office produces better results.
Here are ways we can engage our scholars civically:
- Implementing a Student Government Association
- Creating a debate team at your school
- Sponsoring community engagement safety walks
- Setting up volunteer opportunities for scholars within their neighborhoods
- Take field trips to city council meetings and city hall
- Use TV sitcoms like The Mayor educational tools
- Partner with school Board members to have community town halls to discuss community and school engagement
- Social studies projects that require family and community involvement
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.