Reinventing Civic Education: A Conversation with Author Ben Sheehan

We sat down with Ben Sheehan, political savant and author of the awesome book OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say. Ben grew up in Washington D.C. and has a parent who worked in the Senate, giving him an epic early civics education! After stumbling upon his middle school pocket Constitution, Ben was inspired to democratize the information for a larger audience.

We talked about the sad truth: our civics and government education used to be far more common in schools. Today, only 9 states require a full year of civics education. How are people expected to participate in our democracy if they aren’t taught how it works?

Ben talked about his approach to writing his book. He emphasized the fact that we don’t have to be ashamed about not knowing certain pieces of information if it hasn’t been taught to us. Remember that civic education has to start somewhere – and we’re here to help. Hear the entire conversation on our IGTV!