However, some advocates of civic education are concerned that its place in the curricula of schools may not be as solid and secure as it once was or should be. Butts and others agree that civic education also involves development of skills in making decisions about public issues and participating in public affairs. In a constitutional democracy, civic education is supposed to involve both preservation of core concepts and values and liberation from single-minded teaching and learning about them. There should be an effort to maintain the foundations of our constitutional order and to improve upon it through reflection, deliberation, and action. By contrast, civic education in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes emphasizes one-sided promotion of partisan views, with little opportunity for learners to develop capacities for independent thought and action.
Civic education is an established part of the curriculum in social studies.
Content in government, law, and citizenship is woven into the typical elementary school social studies program. During the 1980s, content in civics has increased at the expense of subject matter from the behavioral sciences. High school government courses are mostly offered at the twelfth grade. Courses in LRE are widely offered as high school electives in more than twenty states. Civic education is also a prominent part of most secondary school courses in American history.