A Jew and a Catholic walk into a classroom…
to study the U.S. Census?
What Counts, Who Counts, and Who Decides?
On November 14th, Civic Spirit hosted the first ever, interfaith Day of Learning dedicated to the concept of census-gathering.
“The U.S. Census: Historic, Civic, Ethical & Religious Considerations.”
- What Counts? Compare & Contrast: Analytic reading of the 1900, 1950, and 2000 U.S. Census questions and historic trends affecting which questions have been used over time.
- Who Counts? Claim/Support/Question: What identity data (race, gender, ethnicity, nationality) is being gathered in 2020?
- Who Decides? Religious Origins: Paired Learning (havruta) of passages from Luke & Book of Numbers.
This event is one of multiple training opportunities provided to educators through Civic Spirit. It was the first event of the 2019-2020 school year, which will be entirely dedicated to studying the civic and historical factors related to the U.S. Census.
The culminating event will be Civic Spirit Day on May 13th, 2020, in follow up to the overwhelming success of last year’s Civic Spirit Day.
Quote from teacher at Luria Academy in Brooklyn: “I most enjoyed learning religious texts with a partner. I have been talking about the experience since [Thursday] and sharing about how meaningful it was for me.”