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For the past several weeks, Public School Insights has used the presidential inauguration as an occasion or interviewing leading educators, community members and others about the status and future of civics education in American schools. In our final interview, South Carolina Superintendent Steve Hefner offers his thoughts on U.S. civics education in the wake of an historic presidential election and inauguration.

Hefner, whose Richland 2 school district has won broad acclaim for its civic education focus, is a bit less glum than most about the current state of civics. While he certainly presses for more civics in schools, he also believes that the surge of youth interest in the recent election and inauguration offers schools an extraordinary opportunity to promote greater civic knowledge and engagement.

Listen to about five minutes of highlights from our interview:

Or read the transcript of these highlights below:

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Are American students, in your view, getting enough civics education?

HEFNER: I think they're getting more today than maybe at the time that I first began in the profession, about four decades ago. Do I think they're getting enough? I think that there is still a need for a greater emphasis on civics education, but I do not wish to lose sight of the fact that I think it's an area in which we are making progress.

I would also point to the fact that I think the historic turnout for the November 4th election nationally hopefully, to some degree, is a reflection of many of the initiatives that have been put in place in recent years in our public schools.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: It's interesting that you see this resurgence and you think that there has been--even though it's not sufficient--an increasing focus on civics education. A lot of other people argue that civics education has actually been dropping off. What do you say to that?

HEFNER: I think there's probably evidence that it has decreased in some places. I know one of the arguments that I hear from time to time is that civics education has lessened because it's not a part of No Child Left Behind and therefore it is not tested the way math, English/Language Arts, and science are tested. Here in South Carolina, we do have social studies, including the civics component, as a part of our state accountability measures.

But the other point I would make… I don't think it has to be a tested item for it to be valued. I believe that what motivates kids to learn and succeed comes from some other, internal interest.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: Do you believe the presidential inauguration offers any opportunities for students in your district to consider the value of citizenship, or the structure and history of their role as citizens in this country?

HEFNER: There are so many wonderful opportunities here. I can't think of any other event in my history that affords as much opportunity for igniting this interest in our nation.

I think it's an opportunity to talk about his path to the presidency. He's well-educated. He's prepared himself. He's gone through those steps; he's gone through the process. He has these dimensions of civic involvement and civic engagement. He is a minority, he's younger. He hasn't come the old traditional route to get there. I think it just offers so much hope and encouragement to students today.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSIGHTS: What do you do to give students in Richland 2 the kind of exposure to civics education you think they really need?

HEFNER: I think it can be captured in many different ways. I can give you some very concrete examples.

In our high schools, our students across the schools--all of them are involved in these massive efforts around the holidays where they do tremendous food drives and toy drives and drives for homeless shelters. That's kind of one rallying force for all of them, and it brings all kids, from all areas, together for common cause.

[Civics education] works in different ways with different kids, different age groups. I don't believe it's something that can be highly prescribed. I think it's one of those things where you light the fire.

I often say that my role is to provide both the inspiration and the boundaries [for civic engagement]. One of the quotes I use a lot is that "a river without banks becomes a swamp." So I'm there to, hopefully, provide some momentum for the water to flow, but also to provide the boundaries to make sure that it doesn't become a swamp. Because I've seen that occur, too, where many well-intentioned activities actually work against us rather than for us.

The other point I want to make that's so very important with regard to creating this climate for civic engagement is that it must be linked to something other than just raw civic engagement. That's enjoyable, in and of itself, but it has to have meaning beyond that. You look for ways to strengthen kids' learning by putting them in the real world where they're actually applying skills--or learning skills--at the same time that they're doing something that we would call civic engagement.

One of the tremendous challenges [to this civic engagement] is the fact that it is an area that, because it involves emotion and attitudes and beliefs and feelings, just by nature it's a much more controversial area than is math or literature. When you get to any issue, people have points of view about its relative worth and value in terms of taking it on as an area where students should be involved and where they should help. Whether it be the issue of homelessness or poverty, people do not always have the same opinion about how one can best help.

Parents have to understand that we respect their values and their beliefs, and we're not here to promote a specific agenda which is incongruent with theirs.