Civics Content Expansion: Partnership with US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The US government and civics course on Khan Academy is absolutely wonderful. However, I think there are some areas that are also important to include either in the same course or in a separate collection of courses. This proposal begins to explore what we can do to make the existing US government and civics content even more thorough and detailed to help better educate on fundamental concepts of liberty and legal systems relevant to daily life in the United States.

I. Intro: Context of this proposal

TLDR: It is important to have expansive and thoroughly informative civics content. What is especially important to raising generations of aware citizens is a thorough understanding of constitutional amendments. The legal world is not a simple one, and it’s very important to have a common understanding of it.

About two months ago, I participated in an essay contest held by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The prompt was regarding the Fourth Amendment in the digital age. I managed to win 1st place in the Southern District of California where my essay was judged by federal court judges. This opportunity not only allowed me to learn a huge amount of valuable information and apply it, but it also made me consider what I can do to share my knowledge. 

At the awards reception, the two federal judges were discussing the need for a collective understanding of basic rights and the law and the importance of civics in education. I immediately realized that this would be a wonderful opportunity to form some sort of partnership between the federal courts and Khan Academy. There is a dire need for effective civics courses that clearly communicate the fundamental rights and responsibilities of citizens and the judicial system, each section of the constitution in the form of especially case law, and other aspects of American life that many simply are unaware of, sadly.

I mentioned at the award reception that the contest inspired me and equipped me to create content for Khan Academy on the Fourth Amendment. While I was able to use a few Khan Academy resources in the composition of my essay, the content was very limited. I believe that expansion of the civics content on Khan Academy is a dire necessity and that a partnership with the federal courts in some capacity can aid in this important effort.

II. Areas for expansion

Because the law of the land can be incredibly complicated, especially beyond the text of the Constitution, it is important that the content expansion maintains a level of clear organization. After some thought, I came up with rough outlines that would make sense to me. I think a partnership with the US Court of Appeals would provide the world with an amazing opportunity to understand key concepts.

Constitutional Amendments:

• More thorough information about the amendments such as:
• Historical context of ratification
• Impact of the amendment
• How each amendment has changed through case law
• What each means today and what it grants
• How fundamental rights in the US differ from that of other countries’
• The specifics of the conditions and limits of each amendment today
• How each amendment may/is expected to change
• Analysis of important and landmark cases that led to legal precedent, further defining the rights and freedoms of citizens
• Practice with analyzing other relevant cases to cultivate critical thinking, attentive reading, and resource evaluation skills
• The role of the judicial system in determining legal precedent, specifically of the Supreme Court

More areas I think are important to include:

• Law in everyday life (federal and state codes, statutes, crimes, lawsuits)
• How the Judicial System Works (in-depth)
• Understanding and Interpreting Case Law
• Careers of the Judicial System

These are just some opening thoughts on expanding the civics content. I’d like to further explore how we can improve the existing content to cover these important areas, so I will be looking into expanding the breadth of this post and will post an updated version with a more complete structure and list of specific content proposals in the future.

III. Further thoughts: What do you think?

After some more thought, I think that a course similar to what I have outlined here would be incredibly useful to have easily available to the world. With a focus on better understanding what rights one has as an American, one can ensure that their inalienable rights are never infringed. 

On a larger scale, I think that such a course expansion would provide the world with some more information about the American judicial system whether it’s for the purpose of self-studying out of curiosity, studying for a class, or even practicing for the citizenship examination, I think this course expansion would benefit everyone.

Since this certainly a large proposal, I’d like to hear your thoughts and ideas regarding this. If you have a suggestion or idea, or would simply like to support this endeavor, I’d be happy to hear what you have to say!