Judges taking civics to schools

Publication Date: November 12, 2006
By David Angier
The News Herald, Panama City, Florida

They are some of the most powerful and outspoken people in the community, but the thought of facing third-graders made them uncharacteristically reticent.

More than 40 lawyers and judges met with Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis in a courtroom of the Calhoun County Courthouse on Wednesday evening to discuss Lewis’ effort to bring a greater awareness of the American ideal into the state’s classrooms.

“You’re going to make a difference in our great democracy,” Lewis told those gathered. “You’re going to be teaching students what it means to be an American.”

Lewis initiated his Justice Teaching program in June, and the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Blountstown and Panama City, was the first to get organized under the leadership of Circuit Judge Jim Fensom.

“We’re the first group in the state that’s ready to go,” Fensom said.

He said he was surprised to discover there are 85 schools in the circuit. Ideally, he said, one lawyer or judge would be assigned to each school to call officials weekly or monthly to schedule hour-long appearances in classes for demonstrations on the law, three branches of government and exploration of constitutional rights.

It might sound dry or even a little intimidating, but Lewis said he never has been to a class that did not respond favorably to his presentation.

“Except second-semester seniors,” he said of high school students on the verge of graduating. “You might want to avoid them.”

To reassure the quiet crowd, Lewis said, “Each time you do it, it gets easier. I promise.”

Fensom said the local initiative would concentrate on middle and high schools first, before expanding to all levels.

Lewis stressed he was not asking the lawyers and judges in the room to adopt his teaching style, but the Justice Teaching Web site would provide lesson plans to aid the presentations.

That was important for Panama City attorney Mike Grabner, who said he has a hard time keeping his personal observations and frustra- tions with government out of his school presentations. Lewis said it is OK to discuss problems in the system.

“No one’s asking you to be a mouthpiece,” Lewis said.

What he is trying to address is a deficiency in some students’ understanding of the workings of the American government, their rights as Americans and how the law applies to them. He said recent surveys show a disturbing ignorance among state and national school children about their own country.

“I love technology and all the things technology has been able to show us,” Lewis said.

“But it doesn’t teach us how to live together.”

He said the programs have to be interactive and not presentations to large assemblies. He asked those gathered Wednesday to participate in some of the activities they would be using in the classrooms.

As an example, Lewis asked for volunteers to discuss their feelings about whether they would be willing to give up certain constitutional rights for better security. Six said they would, and five said they wouldn’t.

“I agreed because I feel like there have already been limits to our rights that I haven’t objected to and I haven’t felt the effects,” one lawyer said. Most in agreement with the statement said they would sacrifice their Fourth Amendment right to warrantless searches at airports to make air travel safer.

Chief Circuit Judge William Wright, who opposed the statement, said the sacrifice of any right was a slippery slope with an unforeseeable end.

“In the long run, we may not be safe from our own government,” he said.

Lewis said it would be important to stress to students in this type of discussion that there is no right or wrong answer.

What is important, he said, is the discussion itself.

“It’s important to appreciate this wonderful democracy that’s been given to us,” Lewis said. “We educate ourselves so we can preserve it.”