Ma’asehyahu Isra-Ul recalls his high school days growing up in Richmond and being captivated by news reports about the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the 1980s.

“I was literally in class when Communism fell,” said Mr. Isra- Ul, offering a historical context of his first grasp of civics. He was a student at Richmond’s Open High School at the time.

Mr. Isra-Ul has been a civics education booster ever since, earning several academic degrees in history and now working on a terminal degree.

Others are asking more and more questions about how much longer the city, state and nation must endure the persistent and deadly coronavirus pandemic that has shut down much of the country for the past year, as health researchers try to find a way to mitigate the virus’ spread.

Others are seeking to understand the social and civil unrest around the country, from neighborhood marches protesting police brutality to violent mobs storming the U.S. Capitol in Washington in an attempt to block the outcome of last November’s national elections.

Today, as a Richmond Public Schools instructional specialist, Mr. Isra-Ul works with history and social science teachers in the 24,000-student school system, helping train and plan history studies to peacefully discuss these and other issues.

His goal is to keep it “meaningful” and enhance the school system’s “REAL” program—Relevant, Engaging,Active and Living—a higher-level learning curriculum for 11th- and 12th-graders.

“We don’t give our personal views to students,” Mr. Isra-Ul stressed. “We help them develop their own,” he said.

In Richmond, Mr. Isra-Ul and fellow school officials cite state civic education policies in trumpeting their local agenda.

According to Civic Education Policies for the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is a civics and/or citizenship focus in the social studies/ history curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to an RPS presentation. Specific courses focus on civics, including eighth-grade civics, policy and pathways for 11th- and 12th-graders and government for 12th-grade students.

In addition to these courses, RPS has several partnerships with area nonprofit, nonpartisan groups to collectively promote civics and citizenship. According to school system officials, these visits and discussions include, but are not limited to, Rule of Law with the Supreme Court of Virginia (grades 6-12), Justice in the Classroom with the John Marshall Foundation (grades 6-12) and Inspire, a Governor’s High School Voter Registration Challenge.

RPS offers people with access to computers its civics program offerings and broader social science curriculum at www.growhistoryrps.com.

While national developments have given civics education a new sense of importance, civics has been overshadowed in recent years by the focus on STEM studies—science, technology, engineering and math. During the past two decades, several studies show liberal arts programs have taken a back seat to STEM studies, as state legislatures across the country and many big funders have been anxious to bankroll specific programs and internships in STEM fields, along with business and management.

Civics got its chance for a rebound with the global protests in 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police, the national elections and the subsequent insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

RPS was set to study the real-time developments in myriad ways. Students “examined” the riot on Capitol Hill with a teacher-led “town hall meeting” about what happened and an open discussion. Separately, a civics education teacher led student and parent discussions about the history of civil unrest.

And late last month, students met with a local television news reporter via Zoom about defining and exploring “fake news.”

Mr. Isra-Ul said the virtual lessons have been an eye-opener for students.

“Our students need to understand the rights and privileges in nations and cities around the world,” said Mr. Isra-Ul. “You can’t do that without knowledge of the world,” he said, emphasizing the refreshed significance of civics education.

In Charlottesville, the site of the ugly and tragic Unite the Right rally by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in August 2017, the Charlottesville Public Schools’ civics teachers got busy trying keep their curriculum fresh so they could help students and parents sort through the incidents there. Those lessons have continued this year, with the amount on the curriculum plate steadily rising, civics team teachers there said.

During the past year, Charlottesville civics teachers have used virtual learning platforms like Zoom to expand opportunities for students to interact with state and local elected leaders, including Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, Charlottesville Delegate Sally L. Hudson, former 5th District Congressman Denver Riggleman, and Charlottesville City Council and School Board members.

For the past few years, civics students also have taken trips to observe proceedings at the Charlottesville General District Court. Civics students also visited with Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old paralegal who was killed during the Unite the Right rally when an avowed white supremacist drove his car into the crowd of counterprotesters on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.

“The November elections and resulting insurrection on the Capitol reinforce the idea that our work is more important than ever,” said Nelly Minton, a teacher for 13 years and now division coordinator of social science and history studies for the Charlottesville school system.

“It is critically important that students explore important questions, backed up with evidence from reputable primary and secondary sources, about power, agency, resistance, justice and equity so they can take action to create a more just and equitable society,” she said, echoing the thinking of her fellow civics teachers in Charlottesville.