Over the past few years, New York City schools, including Baruch, have begun to adopt the Seal of Civic Readiness. This program, rooted in social studies, is designed to encourage students to become engaged, informed members of their communities. The program provides both an additional pathway to earn a Regents diploma and an opportunity to prepare students to become future leaders and advocates for change.
The seal uses a score system for students to demonstrate their understanding of civic responsibility, government, and societal issues.
So what do students really have to do to earn this?
Students must earn a total of six points– at least two from each of the “Blue” and “Green” categories.
The Blue “Civic Knowledge” Category awards points on the Academic aspect of readiness. Taking Social Studies Classes 9-12, showing proficiency or Mastery on History Regents, AP Social Studies courses and a research project all contribute 0.5 to 1.5 points.
The Green “Civic Participation” Category awards points for Societal Engagement. Civic, Service Learning, or Capstone projects all contribute to a student’s score, as well as Extra-Curricular participation and civics-related electives.
Students might note that many of these are requirements already built into the Baruch Curriculum. Clubs and electives like Model U.N, Student Government, Key Club, and Debate are all offered at the school. Current 9th graders have social studies projects built in to fit the requirements. Additionally, 11th grade English classes are incorporating civics projects into their curriculum through speeches or argumentative essays. 12th grade Social Studies classes are also working on designing projects to fulfil these requisites for Seniors.
Social studies teachers Ms. Glick and Mr. Segreti debuted the program to Baruch this school year.
“It’s a great opportunity not just to take history classes, but to become an informed and active member of society, to become civically engaged,” Segreti said.
“It provides critical thinking skills that will help students become more mindful of why they’re doing certain projects to encourage them to think about how to be an active participant in society.”
For future freshman and Baruch’s current ninth and 10th graders, the Seal of Civic Readiness is a built-in opportunity. The school’s humanities courses “check off” many of the boxes that the seal requests. Students, through the seal, have the framework to become civic leaders and engaged members of society.
