Is the failure of civic education the primary cause of ideological partisanship in society? That was the question in a debate Thursday hosted by Pepperdine University and The Steamboat Institute, centered around a question that’s becoming increasingly relevant across Los Angeles and all of California:
Are schools failing at civic education — and is that driving today’s political divide?
The timing is especially interesting as California students are failing so significantly in math and English, the state ranks at the bottom of most of the 50 states. On the 2024 NAEP eighth grade reading exam, a meager 28 percent of California students taking the test scored at the proficient level. The story was even worse in math. On the 2024 NAEP eighth grade math exam, only 25 percent—just one in four—California students scored at the proficient mark.
This raises questions about whether students are being equipped for informed civic engagement. At the same time, campuses across Southern California have seen rising protests and tensions over political speech, which has really put a spotlight on issues around civil discourse.
The debate between two very different professors who are seeing these trends firsthand in the classroom, is a back and forth on whether the roots of today’s political division start in schools — or somewhere else.
“Leaders for a polarized political environment need to understand civic virtue and how public policy is made,” said Pete Peterson, Dean of Pepperdine University, in his opening.