Why Understanding How The United States Government Works IS an Essential Skill 

When I began my teaching career, I inherited one section of US history amid my English classes—38 juniors in a room designed for 30, working through the standard curriculum: indigenous populations, European colonization, revolutionary battles, and constitutional frameworks dominated by the narratives of white men. The school stood in a marginalized corner of San Francisco, a community where systems had failed these families for decades, not through isolated incidents but through persistent, structural inequities. And here these students were, their entire civics education in the hands of a white first-year teacher barely 15 minutes ahead of any lesson plan I’d crafted. 

My classroom reflected this structural reality—filled entirely with students of color whose lived experiences contradicted the stories of equal opportunity and fair treatment in the eyes of the law. The history curriculum was a slog, moving through the names of battles, treaties and what felt like irrelevant moments until one student—a senior repeating the junior-level course—distractedly turned to the Bill of Rights section.

"Miss Lana, what's this? Is this stuff that we're supposed to have? All of us?" he looked stunned at what was spelled out in that part of the textbook, the Bill of Rights and Amendments.

In his question lay the transformation of our entire approach.

National Constitution Center - Bill of Rights and Amendments Explained (VIDEO)

I recentered our curriculum on the Bill of Rights, looking at U.S. history and what unfolded in the following 200 years through that lens. It became the lens through which constitutional structures, wars, political parties and current events all gained relevance. The three branches of government—judicial, executive, and legislative—transformed from abstract concepts into something that students drew a direct connection to their lives. We invited the flaws and hypocrisies into the study of U.S. History. I started having fun too. 

 Supreme Court decisions made more sense - they drilled the topics down into how they interpreted their rights, and which rights seemed to still be trampled upon despite the law.  Congress, judges, elections and the Office of the President all had some meaning and direct connection to them. It’s how I would have taught U.S. History again had I ever had another section of it.

The framework of rights gave meaning to structures that had previously seemed irrelevant to their daily existence. 

So when I saw this week’s headlines about President Trump using the Office of the President to further his own personal agenda and “right” what he considered personal wrongdoings, I was gutted to think of the massive abuse of office this reflects. Law firms threatened by the Executive Branch and coerced into actions that have no bearing on the Office of the President. Since then, he’s threatened universities (Columbia University similarly capitulated to get $400 million in funding reinstated) and more law firms have been targeted via Executive Order. The presidential authority deployed not for constitutional governance but for personal retribution, forcing a $40 million capitulation from legal professionals whose independence forms a cornerstone of our justice system.

The implications are profound.

When power consolidates in contradiction to constitutional design, we witness not merely political controversy but the erosion of the very structures we teach students to understand and engage with as citizens. 

The three branches established by our founders—despite their flawed implementation and historical limitations—were deliberately separated to prevent precisely this type of power concentration. And they should be protected, not chilled into silence and co-opted into alignment with one branch of government.

The dissonance between what we teach about governmental structures and what students observe in practice creates a credibility gap no curriculum can bridge. We already know so many voices have been erased from the founding of the country, but when we critically engage with why and how and what we can do to evolve and improve, we strengthen our country. When we attack, threaten and dismantle these structures, we make ourselves weak.

Why learn about systems that powerful figures can circumvent without consequence?

Educational leaders face an imperative moment. Civic education must extend beyond memorization of processes to critical analysis of how these systems function in practice and what happens when they fail. Our classrooms must become spaces where students learn not just the idealized chart of government offices and roles  but develop the critical thinking skills to identify when those mechanics are being manipulated or abandoned.

The separation of powers represents more than an organizational chart in a textbook—it embodies the foundational safeguard against autocratic governance. Checks and balances exist not from institutional indecision but from the founders' recognition that concentrated power inevitably corrupts regardless of who wields it.

I urge fellow educators, parents, and community leaders to prioritize substantive civic education. Now is a time to get vocal with your school boards, your leaders. Don’t wait for the full erosion of how our government functions to happen. We need informed citizens and we need students to be activated.

Borrow a lesson from my classroom and use the Bill of Rights to frame how you are looking at the current reality today. Be a historian and use the primary source - don’t take another’s word for it and create conditions for children to do the same. 

Bill of Rights - Khan Academy Video

Because ultimately, that student's question about the Bill of Rights probed something far deeper than a historical document.  Our actions right now will dictate whether we have structures to study or not. We have three branches of government that are to be independent and not coerced or controlled by any other. Right now, that’s under direct threat. 

Civic education and engagement is needed more than ever. We are all called upon to be educators in this moment.