Reply #4: I had a class in HS where literally every day up to election day we had a guest speaker...

[Reverend_Smitty]

It was our responsibility to contact and book the speakers and we would have a Q and A session every day with them. We had everyone up from school board and town council members up to governor candidates and Congressmen. Now *that* was a government experience we never forgot...and you had to know your stuff because it was more fun to see grown elected officials squirm at questions asked by 17 and 18 year olds. On the rare days we didn't have a speaker in we would just flip through that day's NYT and discuss the news.

I learned so much about American government that year and we didn't even use a text book, except for about 6 weeks when we were preparing for a constitutional debate contest.

Kids need hands on learning when it comes to civics, it makes it so much more interesting