It's rare that teenagers ask for more required classes - but that's what a group of youngsters wants from the city.
More than a dozen students from the Hyde Square Task Force, a nonprofit organization in Jamaica Plain that provides educational and support services to youth and families, have asked the Boston Public Schools to reinstate required civics classes for the city's 11th- and 12th-graders.
"While young people are expected to become future civic and political leaders, and to work to better their communities, they are not taught the skills to assume those roles," said Stephany Trinidad, 16.
At a public hearing last month, students, including Trinidad, made an impassioned plea for their proposed curriculum change to city councilors. Before an audience of about 200, students cited a general lack of interest in civic life, arguing, in the words of Ashley Cotton, 18, of Dorchester, that a civics class would "encourage youth to get involved in their communities and in politics."
Ideally, students said, the courses would include civics leadership and a discussion of current events. While civics was a required course in the 1970s, students said that now there aren't many venues for them to learn about these issues. The courses should be available to everyone, students said, not just to honors or advanced-placement students.
Last week, the youths met with Mayor Thomas Menino and Superintendent Carol R. Johnson, both of whom support the idea of a civics course in high school, said Sonja Santelises of the superintendent's office. The question is whether it should be required, she said, which could make it harder for students to take electives or courses such as a second science. But "there's a good chance we'll pilot civics courses in additional high schools in the fall," she said. For information, call 617-318-6625 or visit hydesquare.org.
LESLIE TALMADGE
