Giving Compass' Take:

• The author discusses the importance of citizenship education and why more schools need to focus on teaching democracy that promotes inclusive leadership.

• How can students gain more learning knowledge about civil society and leadership without a basic understanding of democracy?

• Read more about the significance of social studies classes.

Ask teenagers what resolution they made for the new year, and you might be surprised at what you hear. Like most people, they may tick off study more or eat better, but they are much more likely than adults to resolve to make the world a better place. Young people are our best hope for creating tolerance and combating hate.

The breakdown in civility is becoming increasingly acceptable, with new narratives that inflame the base elements in each one of us. In truth, democracy, and the values of diversity and tolerance on which it depends, are themselves under siege, and young people are particularly vulnerable to divisive messaging and scapegoating preached by loud, powerful voices.

As schools across the United States salute Martin Luther King Jr., few of them are equipped to teach students how to be leaders like him — people who understand the power of being a citizen, grasp the importance of embracing differences, and understand how to work for change.

Yet broadening the reach and quality of citizenship education offers a vital, untapped path to addressing our country’s problems. Our differences need to be resolved through public and private discourse, fact-based analysis, and independent reflection.

Unfortunately, citizenship education is rarely offered today.  As a result, a shockingly high percentage of students have little knowledge of the basic structure of democratic institutions: why they exist, what they do, or how they function.

The good news is that we can unlearn racism, hatred, and bigotry, especially as teenagers. Good citizens are made, not born. The knowledge and skills that enable effective citizenship must be taught as systematically as we teach math, language arts, and science, from an understanding of how democracies work and independent thinking to effective collaboration and inclusive leadership.

Read the full article about young student citizenship by Mehrdad Baghai at The 74