Teaching Civics and Economics
Essentials of Teaching provides a growing list of bullet-point summaries of content for Christian educators. Each guide can be downloaded, printed, or viewed as a webpage and includes links to the resources we used to compile the content.
Reasons Why Teaching Civics and Economics Is Important
Humanistic and materialistic values are subtly displayed in messages all throughout daily life. The goal is to disciple youth to recognize and counter this “invisible” saturation.
Anabaptists have a unique culture of strength from which to approach these subjects (e.g. prioritizing community over self and the two-kingdoms theology).
Giving students knowledge about these topics enables them to:
Pray and respect from an informed position
Determine their responsibilities relating to the law
Better understand current social problems and tensions
Develop critical thinking skills
Make informed financial decisions (personally and on a business level someday)
Understand how the past informs the future
Develop a calling of their duty to their community, nation, and humanity as a whole
General Advice and Teaching Tips
Instead of focusing only on rote facts, let your underlying push be to transmit truth across generations, using history and culture as identity markers. Make it your goal to instill Anabaptist identity without fostering egotism.
To keep a two-kingdom concept in mind while teaching civics, consider teaching rights and responsibilities through the lens of being “responsible aliens.”
Recommended Resources
Principles for personal economics: Principles For Personal Economics - The Dock for Learning
Economic standards and concepts: Economic Standards and Concepts - The Dock for Learning
Classroom economic system activity: Classroom Economic System - The Dock for Learning
Advice for navigating election-related conversations: Navigating Election Years in the Christian School Classroom - The Dock for Learning
Christian perspective on law and politics:
Biblical perspective of church and state:
Teacher version: Biblical Perspective Of Church and State - The Dock for Learning
Student version: Biblical Perspective Of Church And State Handout - The Dock for Learning
Overview of Canadian parliament: Canadian Parliament - The Dock for Learning
Crash course in economics: Economics Crash Course - The Dock for Learning
Sources
Helping Students Think as Anabaptists through Teaching History, Geography, and Civics by Pete Peters Helping Students Think as Anabaptists Through Teaching History, Geography, and Civics - The Dock for Learning
Living Out Our Faith in Economics and Civics by Arlyn Nisly Living Out Our Faith in Economics and Civics - The Dock for Learning
Why Should We Teach Government? By various authors Why Should We Teach Government? - The Dock for Learning
