LA GRANDE — La Grande High School social studies teacher John Lamoreau believes it is critical that students learn how the legislative process works.

This is why he is among the educators who are strong supporters of Oregon’s new civics bill. The bill — Senate Bill 513 — will require all high school students to take half a credit of civics before they can graduate starting in 2025. The legislation was passed by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Kate Brown on June 3.

Lamoreau believes the bill will help introduce more students to how government works at a time when many are apathetic about the subject.

“People are not as interested in how government works as they once were. Polls show that between one-fourth and one-third of adults do not know what the three branches of government are,” he said.

The educator attributes this in part to the internet and the misinformation it provides.

Lamoreau believes people need to learn how government works so they can defend our democracy.

“History tells us that societies do not last forever,” he said. “If we love our society, we need to to protect it in order to keep it flourishing.”

Understanding elements

The LHS teacher believes it is critical to understand elements like the story of the First Amendment’s Bill of Rights which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Lamoreau wants students to understand that it is not a coincidence that the freedom of religion is the first right listed in the first amendment. This indicates, he said, how strongly the United States’ founding fathers felt about the importance of freedom of religion and how much we should value it.

He noted that when the Bill of Rights was being created, there was a move in the country to exclude people of the Jewish, Catholic and Muslim faiths from having citizenship. Lamoreau noted though that then-president George Washington and future presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both worked hard to make sure that the Bill of Rights allowed people of all beliefs to be citizens and to be allowed to practice their faith.

When discussing the right to freedom of speech Lamoreau likes to tell his students of the visit he made in 1968 to what was then the Soviet Union. He told people there that he was opposed to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The young people he was talking to in the Soviet Union asked him if he feared retaliation from his government for being so outspoken. Lamoreau said they were amazed to learn that he did not fear retaliation because of his First Amendment right to practice freedom of speech.

“That really opened my eyes. Going to the Soviet Union made me love my country a lot more,” he said.

Lamoreau said he believes most schools are already teaching civics. He thinks, though, that the legislation will spur school districts to develop better curriculum for civics.

Teaching state government

He hopes that high schools, spurred by SB 513, will also teach more about state government and how Oregon’s is different from many others. For example, in Oregon citizens can get measures passed using the initiative petition process. Few other states have an initiative petition process that makes it as easy for citizens to create new laws as Oregon does.

Lamoreau also hopes SB 513 makes students aware of portions of Oregon’s history he does not believe many students know about.

“Many people do not realize that a United States president grew up in Oregon,” he said.

He was referring to Herbert Hoover, who was raised in Newberg after moving there from Iowa when he was 11.

Mark Mulvihill, superintendent of the InterMountain Education Service District, said civics is already embedded throughout the curriculum of Oregon’s public schools. However, he also believes the added emphasis on civics SB 513 calls for is a positive step.

The superintendent said it will be constructive at a time when our society is so polarized. Mulvihill said boosting students’ understanding of how our government works will result in people being better listeners and reducing this divide.

“It will pull us together more,” he said.

The superintendent also believes SB 513 may result in more students later participating in government.

“The more involved people are, the more enlightened they will be and the better government will be,” he said.”That is what the intent of the bill is all about.”