The Importance of Law-Related Education in Today's Society

Cameron Reckard

When the United States was a fledgling country on the world stage, Benjamin Franklin 

supposedly commented to a curious woman that the new nation was a "republic, if you can keep it." 

The founding fathers created systems, written out in the Constitution, to ensure that American 

citizens had the power to do just this. Through protections such as the right to protest, the right of each American to bear their arms. and even the right to remain innocent in crimes until proven guilty, they worked to protect future generations from a government attempting to overreach its authority. 

But as years passed. the memories of those who fought in the Revolutionary War began to drift away. The names of some of the founding fathers slipped from memory. The rigid guidelines 

enshrined in the Constitution began to blur. 

Now, over 300 years since the nation's founding, this trend has left America with a society 

largely uneducated about the government that controls it. Any brief search online will unearth 

numerous videos of regular citizens who cannot even name the three branches of government. much less describe how they work. This lack of knowledge is a danger with the power to cripple the nation that long served as a beacon of hope for so many. 

The threats of this lack of education are already visible in society. Take Koremaisu v. United 

States, where the government decided it was appropriate to revoke civil rights based solely on 

race. Even decades later, the decision remains unmodified by the courts. Or Chiafalo v.

Washington, with the courts confirming that the system of electors carefully planned by the 

founders had become one of a popular vote, a far cry from the original plans of less-biased 

individuals selecting the person best fit to lead the nation as President. More recent still is the far broader use of executive orders from the President for reasons from student loan forgiveness to vaccination mandates for federal employees, frequently bypassing the organization of elected 

individuals representing the people in the interest of making things happen quickly. These are the oversteps Benjamin Franklin warned the earliest Americans about, yet they continue to pass by with minimal (if any) public outcry. 

Civic education provides a chance to teach these students about the systems that operate our 

government of today and why they exist in the first place. Through programs like We The 

People, it helps them to explore the broader contexts for events, like the original separation of 

senate elections from the people, and to form their own opinions about where these systems 

stand in the America of future years. Through government classes, students learn the rights given to them as American citizens, rights they must know exist if they wish to protect them in the future. And most importantly of all, it encourages them to hold their government accountable, standing up against injustices or oversteps, because they will understand the bounds it must remain within. In essence, it provides the tools they need to protect our republic. 



The results from this are tangible. Within the We The People program, my fellow unit members and I combed through court rulings, congressional legislation, executive orders, and the 

Constitution itself, comparing the government action of today with the foundations laid out for it. Working with fellow participants in the United States Senate Youth Program, we held civilized debates on the current state of our nation, even inspiring some of our peers to consider careers in public service. Even in Model United Nations, my fellow delegates and I needed to lay down our biases at the door. working as a team to find the solution to real problems impacting the world. 

So, as a society, we are left with a question. The founding fathers gave us a republic, but can we keep it? Can our nation remain a beacon on the hill to serve as a guide for others looking to 

embrace democracy themselves? The answer lies in how we educate the youth of our nation. Do we emphasize helping them to understand their place within the broader American government? Or do memories of civic duty fade from existence? 

Democracy dies in darkness. It is up to us to shine the light. 

The Importance of Law-Related Education in Today's Society

Kamala Karuppiah

“Seniors: Get out and vote” the principal announces over the loudspeaker.

This announcement perfectly led to the start of a new unit in my sophomore IPLE (the Institute for Political and Legal Education) class. The unit was about the importance of voting.

One of the topics that were emphasized was that despite the countless stories of how just one vote changed history, many people who are eligible to vote do not vote because they think their vote will not matter among the millions of voters. At first, we were baffled: why would citizens, who have the right to vote, choose not to? Soon, we collectively realized that not everyone cares about voting because they do not understand the impact that voting can have on the entire society. Our assignment was to think about how we, as a society, could bolster voter turnout.

On my way home that day, my eyes were drawn to campaign posters on the side of the roads, and when I got home, everyone posted cool buttons saying “I voted.” To me, it looked like people cared. I didn’t think voter turnout was a problem until I realized that members of my own

family didn't prioritize voting. As soon as I walked into my aunt’s house, I saw a mail-in ballot with empty boxes sitting on the dining table. When I asked my aunt about it, she said she did not

know any of the candidates running, so she would fill it out later. Later meant that it wound up at

the bottom of a stack of bills and junk mail. One forgotten ballot under the pile of junk mail adds

up across households, contributing to low voter turnout. I was confused. I was angry. Why did

she not care?

I understood the power of voting because of my participation in classes and activities like IPLE, Model United Nations, Mock Trial, and being a student in a civic-minded school environment. However, not everyone understands this important responsibility. Just in my school, only 28 out of the 728 seniors took IPLE, a civics class, this year. This is reflective of the many individuals who do not prioritize law-related education.

In today’s society, with critical issues at hand like climate change, equal rights, and safety in public places, especially schools, we must vote on local officials, senators, and representatives in order to help create the society we want to live in.

Law-related education is also extremely important because we need to know our basic rights in our societies to prevent any type of abuse or injustices. I realized this when my IPLE class learned about student rights: students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Having a basic knowledge of your rights found in common federal laws, traffic laws, Miranda rights, patients’ rights, consumer protection laws, federal domestic violence laws, and property laws, to name a few, are important so we are not facing dangerous situations or any level of mistreatment.

Law-related education helps students learn how to voice their opinions and where to voice injustices. For example, a victim of domestic violence, living in the United States, did not know if and where she could seek help for ten years. In another example, my mom’s friend did not even know the existence of a consumer court or how to complain about a grocery store continuously selling spoiled goods. These are only a few examples of how law-related education serves to be extremely important in our day-to-day lives. When we as a society begin to realize the importance and impact of certain policies and laws, we begin to care about them. Caring can turn into anger, disappointment, or passion, and all these feelings ultimately sum into action. We

develop the desire to change the society around us for the better.

Law-related classes create change-makers who realize their role in their community. They foster future board of education members, representatives, leaders, and most importantly genuine, participating citizens. Not all of these students will be attorneys or government officials, but almost all of them will be active citizens. With participating citizens, accountability is enforced, which can help the efficiency, productivity, and integrity of the government and government officials.

My IPLE class not only taught me Supreme Court cases and political philosophy, but we as a class developed civic responsibility.

I live in this society. I am a part of my community.

We are responsible for it.

We will change it for the better.