In school, did you take civics, government, or both?

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HermioneMarch@reddit

Civics was US government. The we had US history which also talked a lot about government

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Yep. The answer will vary from state to state and year to year, but when I was in school we had requirements for Criminal and Civil Justice in 9th grade, US History in 10th grade, and US Government to take some time in your Junior or Senior year. Michigan, graduated in 1990.

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Sugah-Mama@reddit

This

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Laughingfoxcreates@reddit

Yeah same.

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IJustWantADragon21@reddit

Yeah. The two terms were used pretty interchangeably in Illinois too. Government was required to graduated high school. We also took a unit and had to pass a test on the constitution and declaration of independent in 8th grade.

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TheBimpo@reddit

Same here, Michigan in the 90s

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Old-Wolf-1024@reddit

Same in Texas mid-80’s …..far and away my favorite class/subject of my entire education.

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Lexybeepboop@reddit

Government for one semester and economics the second semester of 12th grade

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winteriscoming9099@reddit

Ours was called Government and Politics. We also had the AP version, which I took and thoroughly enjoyed. Both required at the 12th grade level.

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ArmadilloBandito@reddit

I moved states a lot, so I missed some government classes. But I know Texas has a state government class, I think in middle school, and then US Governments in highschool.

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SoftLast243@reddit

Government in 9th grade (private school)

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kayseeboo92@reddit

Government for nine weeks senior year

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la-anah@reddit

Our classes were called "Social Studies."

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Cyber_Punk_87@reddit

So we had a civics class in 8th grade, then US history usually in 11th, and US government in 12th. Civics and Government were pretty similar classes, just more in depth at the 12th grade level.

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Peachy0715@reddit

We had social studies in elem and middle school and they included aspects of government/civics.

In high school, everyone was required to take US History (Honors, Academic, or Basic) during junior year, and Government (1 semester) and Economics (1 semester) (with no differentiation of level) during senior year.

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Fearless-Boba@reddit

In my state we had American history all throughout school including indigenous people local to our area as well as accords the country. In high school, we were required to have two years of world history and geography (beyond what we'd learned throughout other levels of school from country reports etc) and then we had a US History and government class, as well as senior year coursework that involved half a year on economics throughout history globally as well as a half year course on government regarding voting, public policy, current events, etc.

My school, but also my state in general, had a well rounded curriculum across the core subjects areas.

As an educator nowadays, I get students from other states where world history isn't taught at all, or they don't have more than one required math or science course for all of high school and instead the kid has a ton of electives.

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DCHacker@reddit

The pubikc skoolz doan teech no gummint oar sivix no moor. Thay doan teech no Inglish, Histuhree, Fizzies, Grandma oar Spilling no moor, neethur.

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Reasonable-Company71@reddit

Graduated in 2003 from a private boarding school in Hawaii. The closest thing we had was US History, no specific "civics" or "government" class.

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Complex_Yam_5390@reddit

I took a required U.S. history class in 8th grade that covered the government structure broadly. I took a required civics class in high school that was much more detailed about how the government (is supposed to) function/s. Also had AP U.S. History in HS, which covered the formation of the government and Constitution.

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THE_CENTURION@reddit

We just had "social studies" which covered civics/government (not really sure what the difference between those is?) and history.

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brilliantpants@reddit

None of that, baby! We took American History junior year, that covered our government a little bit. But Civics was actually a senior year elective, but I didn’t take it because I fulled up my schedule with art classes and study halls.

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spartangibbles@reddit

If we are talking High School, the normal offerings for my school were World History in 9th grade, US History/AP US History in 10th grade, Civics/Economics in 11th grade, and then AP European History/ AP Micro Economics Online/AP Macro Economics Online for 12th grade

I took World, AP US, Civics/Econ, and then both online AP Econ courses since it meant i could work 1 day a week and sleep in the library the rest.

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abakersmurder@reddit

Graduate of 2000. We did both. In one class we spent 2 weeks on the stock market. It was an econ/civs class.

I feel I know more about how government works because of these classes.

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MMARapFooty@reddit

Civics was taking about how US Government works

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FunkySalamander1@reddit

In Arkansas, we just took Civics in 7th grade.

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Meilingcrusader@reddit

We called it social studies

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USAF_Retired2017@reddit

Civics

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Quirky_Spinach_6308@reddit

My high school called the class about the Constitution and related topics government class. You had to pass it to graduate.

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Rourensu@reddit

Government for one semester in 12th grade.

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Ducksaucenem@reddit

Same for us in Florida too. We also had a class in 10th grade called US History for one semester. It was more about how the government was set up in the beginning.

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cordless_tool@reddit

It was the same class at my high school, and it was elective, but I did not take it.

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botulizard@reddit

Grades 1-8 it was social studies, which combined history, geography, and physics. In high school it was history but also still included civics. Government was available as an AP class, but I'm not sure what it entailed.

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Deep-Hovercraft6716@reddit

Those are the same thing. Whatever distinction your school made is irrelevant. You took the same class in two parts.

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Deep-Promotion-2293@reddit

2 years of US history, 1 year of world history, 1 semester of US government. Had to memorize the preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They were required classes.

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Prestigious_Ant_703@reddit

We had Social Studies. I don't recall anything called either civics or government .

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susannahstar2000@reddit

I never had a class called civics or government. I had a class called Modern Problems as a senior.

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peaveyftw@reddit

We...officially took Civics & Government. I say "offically" because we literally watched a movie. The teacher was a basketball coach who also "taught" history,. which he gave us a list of bold vocabularly words to memorize. Civics was mostly a place to work our way through 2000s VHS releases.

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Meggiekayyy@reddit

Both. Different years but I dont remember which. They were required.

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GroundThing@reddit

Two terms were interchangeable when I was took in in 12th grade. Never took it otherwise as a class, though occasionally aspects would come up when learning US history.

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Pepper_Pfieffer@reddit

We had a great segment in a Social Studies class in 8ty grade. Each student became a Congressman(i think we drew for states). We came up with and wrote our own bills, then had to convince other Congressmen to support our bills.

The teacher had us propose the bills in front of the class and tell everyone how the bill would be payed for.

Thanks again Mr Christenson, we all got a lot out of it.

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Nutridus@reddit

Both

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davidml1023@reddit

Civics = US governments (state + federal). I took that once in middle school and once in high school. I also took us history in both middle school and high school.

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RobotShlomo@reddit

We took "social studies" and US history back in the 80's. Civics was being phased out in my area. Which makes me think that's the reason why many don't know how the government actually works.

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ScottyUrb@reddit

Everyone took civics, while about 25-30 of us (myself included) took advanced placement U.S. Government. (My school was big - over 2,000 students.)

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Zaidswith@reddit

Civics is government. I don't know what the difference would be. Yes, I took that. We had to take it alongside an economics class. I also took US history, World History, 3 years of World Geography, and Georgia history throughout my middle and high school years.

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JudgmentalRavenclaw@reddit

Civics/government was combined for us. 12th grade.

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Mad-Hettie@reddit

I had social studies regularly in elementary and middle school. That was a mix of American History and Civics. In high school I don't remember a separate civics class but we did have European History, American History and World History classes. Because of where I'm from we also had Appalachian history and culture.

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PeorgieT75@reddit

I remember in middle school, we took VA history in 7th grade and US in 8th. I think we rotated through world and US history and US government in HS.

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brzantium@reddit

Senior year of high school I took a semester of economics and a semester of government. That's it.

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Adorable_Dust3799@reddit

Neither one

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Angsty_Potatos@reddit

I took civics and a class called "problems of democracy" which was basically a class where we learned about issues in our governental process, pitfalls, learning about propaganda, gerrymandering, lobbying, corporate donations, media spin, how to find neutral sources, etc. It was a fantastic class. This was in 2003-07.

Sadly the teacher who taught this class somehow became full on maga in her retirement. I follow her on Social media and it shocks me that the person who taught me some of the most lasting examples of critical thought has essentially joined a cult that believes teachers brainwash students 🙄

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RandomPaw@reddit

Government and economics (practical stuff about living in society as an adult) were both required before you could graduate from high school. Nothing called Civics but there was kind of an overlap.

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KingOfTheFraggles@reddit

I graduated in 1993 from a Central Indiana school and we had neither.

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starksfergie@reddit

We had Civics but I swear it was part of another class (and I don’t remember taking a government class at all), maybe it was part of one of the history classes (this was either middle or high school, but feels like middle honestly)

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furie1335@reddit

Both

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invisibleman13000@reddit

I took US Government in 9th grade. I don't think there was a class called Civics. I then took World History in 10th grade, US History in 11th grade and then AP Macroeconomics (the other option was personal finance) in 12th grade.

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MeasurementQuick4887@reddit

Took Civics in 7th grade and Ap Gov senior year

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Large_Aspect_5472@reddit

Virginia, and we had both classes

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BoukenGreen@reddit

Took Civics in 8th, Government as a senior

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

For me, it was covered in US History

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cohrt@reddit

Don’t think I took either one of those.

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SauteShantay@reddit

Class of 1988. Civics/American Government were each a semester class.

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shammy_dammy@reddit

Both

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my_team_is_better@reddit

I had both; I went to school in several states, so I also had several US and world history classes along the way.

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maceion@reddit

Not being in U.S.A.; we have no such equivalent program. We just learn to live in our country by practice.

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_iusuallydont_@reddit

Both. Except I think it was inverse I know I def took civics in hs.

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Prestigious-Name-323@reddit

Civics in I think 8th grade? Government in 12th grade.

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Dawashingtonian@reddit

i took civics in 9th grade and AP gov as a senior. only civics was required. it was part of a few grad requirement 1/2 semester classes that all freshmen took at my school.

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mechanicalpencilly@reddit

Civics in 8th grade. Taught by a Marine drill Sargent in 1976.

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_pamelab@reddit

We had a few options in high school to fulfill our US, State, and consumer education requirements.

One year of 9th grade civics to cover everything.
One semester of 12th grade government and one semester of a consumer ed. course.
One semester of 12th grade government and testing out of consumer ed.

I went with #3. The test was like a test of basic common sense. I don't know anyone that failed it.

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Uhhyt231@reddit

Neither

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1969quacky@reddit

I've never had ANY world history. Went to school in the hippy era, my schools were liberal, and you could take social sciences classes instead of history. I've learned a little world history just from living. I have the most simplistic understanding of Ancient Greece and Rome, the Crusades etc etc. I think China did some stuff too?

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nagurski03@reddit

We had "social studies" which was kind of a bit of history, kind of a bit of civics/government with a lot of other random stuff mixed in.

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nvmls@reddit

We had two years of history, one year of civics/history, and one of economics.

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Living_Murphys_Law@reddit

We're required to by law in Illinois!

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YourOldCellphone@reddit

Gov was one of the AP classes I actually did well in.

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EffectiveOne236@reddit

I took government. It could be that what your school considers two separate things mine didn't. Between history and government, I knew what my rights and responsibilities as an American citizen are. I knew the history of the constitution and its major amendments. what would I have gained by adding a third class to this schedule?

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SP-10MK2@reddit

In HS, we had a semester of government and a semester of economics. Civics, in the broader sense, was covered in intermediate school social studies class.

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DrBlankslate@reddit

In eighth grade, everybody was terrified about the Constitution Test.

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frisbi75@reddit

Same here

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Usuf3690@reddit

Same.

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DrBlankslate@reddit

Never took a class called “civics.” I took eighth grade US government, and then 11th grade government.

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Victor_Stein@reddit

Took history, they basically combined history/social studies with government stuff as we learned about legislation (separate but equal ruling, prohibition, etc)

You could take AP gov in high school but it was not required

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MMARapFooty@reddit

It was a Freshman year course

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FairBaker315@reddit

Neither.

We had history class each year from 7th-11th grade, each year focusing on a different time period. 7th and 8th was ancient history and 9th-11th was American history.

Then in 12th, there were several different classes you took to cover what was the history class. Civics, philosophy, current events, economics and psychology were ones I remember. You picked your top choices and had a different one each quarter, hopefully you got your top picks. But civics and government were not required.

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myseaentsthrowaway@reddit

Neither, but we had a class called "Social Studies" every year that covered civics and government.

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tavikravenfrost@reddit

For me, early on, learning about government was folded into history lessons. In high school, that's when they separated history from government with a Civics class.

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Vivid-Fennel3234@reddit

Senior year, we had US Government for a quarter of the year and Economics for the other quarter. US Government was essentially just two weeks of debate groups, a quick overview of how the government is set up, and then the rest was just watching the Egyptian revolution unfolding live on CNN.

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cometshoney@reddit

I went to four different high schools, and the class had a different name at each school. I had to take it four times because of that. I have absolutely no excuse for not knowing the government inside and out.

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Carinyosa99@reddit

That is absolutely crazy that they made you take it in all the schools. I started 9th grade in one high school and finished 9th grade in another high school. Then in 10th grade I was in yet a different high school where I stayed until graduation. All three were in different school districts (one was on an overseas military base, and the other two were in different states here in the US). I had transcripts for each school and I never had to retake any required courses.

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cometshoney@reddit

My transcripts went to each school with me, but they kept using the same excuse: that state requires THIS class for graduation, so you have to have THIS class on your transcript, not THAT one. At one school, the woman didn't realize the difference between quarters and semesters, so she gave me semester credit for quarter classes. I could have graduated at the end of my junior year, but my mother wouldn't let me use their mistake against them. That was the only class I had to keep taking. That didn't bother me near as much as showing up to yet another school and finding they didn't teach the foreign language I was taking at the previous school(s) and being forced to change that one again.

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Carinyosa99@reddit

The foreign language thing was an issue between my first and second HS. I'd taken a Spanish 1 class in 9th grade while overseas (teacher was Cuban American and so I learned a lot). But my second HS in rural Michigan only taught French. I knew that before I moved so my overseas teacher sped me up and I was allowed to get a full year credit for Spanish, but I took French the second semester and I did surprisingly well despite not having taken the first half of the year. When I moved to my last HS in Maryland, I ended up actually being able to skip a level of Spanish because they took two years to go through a book while my old school took one year to go through a book.

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Wonderful-Comment314@reddit

I went to two different high schools and didn't take it once. As long as I had the right number of credits they didn't care which history classes I took. I did take AP US History though.

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theniwokesoftly@reddit

So did you never get a history class in high school then?

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anneofgraygardens@reddit

California requires that you take a semester of government and a semester of economics to graduate from high school. i think it's normal for high schools to do what mine did, and solve this requirement by calling this a single class in senior year.

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Embarrassed-Lead6471@reddit

In elementary school, we studied basic civics in history class. In high school, I took AP Government.

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ITrCool@reddit

Both, but it was meshed into one “mega” class, when I was in university. Separate when the n grade school/HS.

I really enjoyed the class in university. It was a night class that met for three hours one night a week, and our professor had been former federal gov himself during the HW Bush years back in the early 90s.

He challenged us with good questions, and had a weekly discussion topic. He would ask us the question, then we had to go around the room and discuss/debate our thoughts/viewpoints. What I really appreciated was the fact that even though we had differing opinions/positions on things, it stayed civil and hate did not manifest in that class. Everyone acted like mature adults.

As a result, that class was awesome and everyone enjoyed it and we all learned a LOT about each other and how a government/civic system such as ours can be complex, how it functions, the flaws it has, the amazing benefits it provides, and its rich history.

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The_Bjorn_Ultimatum@reddit

and our professor had been former federal gov himself

Which government was he?

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ITrCool@reddit

US

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The_Bjorn_Ultimatum@reddit

Damn. He was the US federal government? Pretty powerful dude then.

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ITrCool@reddit

He was part of the government yes. Good job.

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Catalina_Eddie@reddit

Both

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Traditional_Ant_2662@reddit

Government. I changed schools in high school and missed civics.

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HoidsApprentice1121@reddit

We had to either take AP Government, or Civics (taught by the baseball coach)

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CleverGirlRawr@reddit

At my daughter’s school I think all the history classes are taught by coaches. She has had two very boring classes because these guys dgaf about history.

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Kurt805@reddit

In mine you had the choice to take civics or economics. I took economics because they offered it as a college course.

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maddie_johnson@reddit (OP)

Like the economics class that has you take the W!SE test? My school required economics & personal finance in 11th grade, and it was the one that goes with W!SE

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CleverGirlRawr@reddit

I never took economics in high school and I have never heard of that test. But I’m older and now a semester of economics is required to graduate. I’m still a little u clear on what is taught at n civics because I never had it.

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TheBimpo@reddit

What's a "W!SE" test? We have 50 states with 50 different state graduation requirements and 11,000+ districts with a lot of power to make decisions on things like course names like "civics" and "government". There's no national standard here.

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maddie_johnson@reddit (OP)

A nationally recognized financial literacy test

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TheBimpo@reddit

Interesting. I also had economics in high school in the early 90s, never heard of this test.

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maddie_johnson@reddit (OP)

Might be the difference between an economics class vs an economics & personal finance class? :)

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TheBimpo@reddit

Perhaps. It could also be the difference between when this test became prominent. Or something else. My high school economics course was a general course on both macro and personal. But it was also 1993.

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Apprehensive-Pop-201@reddit

Both. Plus lots of US history.

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CleverGirlRawr@reddit

I never had a class called civics. Social studies classes at lower grade levels had some of these things built in. I had a year of AP Government in 12th grade in 1990-1991.

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worrymon@reddit

Social Studies was history and civics/government and economics.

1980s

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ParticularYak4401@reddit

Civics/Government class senior year of high school. Graduated in 1998. Looking back we should have had civics/government taught yearly in some capacity. My elementary school was a polling station until Washington state went vote by mail. Looking back our teachers could have done units on voting, voting rights etc around election time. Taken us to the gym and had the polling workers explain the process.

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ShinyHouseElf@reddit

Pretty sure we had civics in 8th grad and US gov in maybe 10th? But that was back in the late 80s/early 90s.

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mpurdey12@reddit

I took an Advanced Placement US Government and Politics class my senior year of high school. It was an elective, which meant that it was optional, and not a graduation requirement.

The teacher who taught the class wasn't very good, and I felt that I didn't learn anything during the school year.

I was super bummed because the teacher who I had for one of my US History classes also taught the AP US Government class, but she went on maternity leave at the start of my senior year, so we got stuck with the shitty teacher instead.

At my high school, US history was taught over two years. You took US History I (the founding of the US to the Civil War) your Sophomore Year, and then US History II (Reconstruction to current day) your junior year.

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Carinyosa99@reddit

We had NSL Government (national, state & local government) in high school and it covered both civics and government. That was in the late 1980s. My 16 year old son just took his NSL class this past school year.

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boomgoesthevegemite@reddit

We took Economics(Civics) and Government senior year. One semester each.

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

I don’t think most the people here see a distinction

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Kirtri@reddit

Neither. Social science and history. Though I recall most of the goverment type stuff being in 6th to 8th grade. (At the time last year of elementary and Jr high, I think now of days they are all 'middle school')

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PurpleLilyEsq@reddit

The class was called “Participation in Government” so it was basically both rolled into one.

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PsxDcSquall@reddit

We had various social studies classes growing up but 9th grade was when we took our first dedicated “government” class.

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Odd-Help-4293@reddit

While civics and government are not exactly the same thing, there's so much overlap that I don't understand the idea of teaching them as separate courses.

Anyway, in Maryland, a year-long course that covers the basics of government, civics, & economics was required to graduate from high school.

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rshining@reddit

My school offered neither. No history or straight up geography, either. We DID get to take "social studies" in both 7th and 8th grade, but not outside of that. Social studies, at least during my time in school, was basically just a quick overview of some simple geography, a few high points of the cultural traditions or history related to the geography, and reading Johnny Tremain (a novel about the US Revolutionary War). We read it in both grades, and that was really the bulk of the class time.

We colored in a map of Africa, but never discussed the different countries or cultures. Europe is too complicated, so we didn't even color in a map for them... and certainly didn't do any more in-depth learning, except for a timeline of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and some coverage of the Holocaust. South America didn't get a mention, except for Mexico (which was mostly in the context of the eventual colonization of the US southwestern states). Asia was mostly about identifying if India counted as Asia or Europe.

Not only were we uneducated about the rest of the world, but we didn't do any sort of US civics, either. Most of what I learned at that age about how my own government works came from the TV show "Schoolhouse Rock!"

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MattWolf96@reddit

Yes

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hannahstohelit@reddit

Went to private religious school. I don’t recall doing civics as a specific class in elementary/middle school but it was definitely folded into a few of our existing “social studies” curricula for state history and US history. In high school we had the option for either regular or AP US Govt.

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Vachic09@reddit

Government was a required class.

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Wintergain335@reddit

In Junior High I had to take US History, World History, then GA State History. In High School I had to take US Government/Civics(9 weeks) then I had to take World Geography (9 weeks), then World History, US History, and finally Economics. I also took European History for fun.

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TrashPandaNotACat@reddit

We had World History in 8th grade (teacher focused almost entirely on Nazi Germany and concentration camps) and American History in high school.

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Kindergoat@reddit

We had a civil rights class

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idahobasque@reddit

Neither. Took a civics test in 12th grade but nothing else

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FriesAndToast@reddit

We had civics in 7th grade and government in 12th

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DifferentTheory2156@reddit

I took both…along with US history, World History, and state history.

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theniwokesoftly@reddit

Civics in middle school, then government in 10th grade. Most people take it in 12th, but they restructured it for IB.

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Rhomega2@reddit

Went to three high schools in the early '00s. Only the last one required Civics. Second one required American History.

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xSparkShark@reddit

I never took a class officially called civics or government, but these topics were extensively covered in social studies.

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bibliophile222@reddit

They weren't called by either name, it was just history/social studies, but yes, we learned about the Constitution, voting, etc.

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GeauxCup@reddit

What's the difference? What's taught in "Government"?

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Ok-Law7641@reddit

We had half a year of Economics and a half a year of Civics (US Government) required to Graduate High School. (Class of 88)

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Mrknowitall666@reddit

We didn't have either, as I recall, in schools in the 60-70s. We had bussing, and civil rights aplenty argued across dinner tables.

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BankManager69420@reddit

That was the same class at my school.

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NightOwlWraith@reddit

I had Civics, US Government, and World Government.

I also had US Hustory and World History.

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machagogo@reddit

We had civics modules in social studies, but never a pure civics class.

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Usuf3690@reddit

They're the same thing just a different name.

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Amazing-Butterfly-65@reddit

Yep

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ProfessorOfPancakes@reddit

My 9th grade history was sometimes called civics and I took AP US Government and Politics in 11th

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mustang6172@reddit

I took social studies, which included geography, history, and political science.

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On_my_last_spoon@reddit

The state of Illinois only requires US History your junior year (11th). So that’s what I had. My other history classes were Humanities, Art History, and Dance History. I went to an arts high school so they did the bare minimum requirements for the state so we could have extra classes in our specialties.

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DharmaCub@reddit

Senior year we had Econ first semester and Gov second. Unfortunately, my teacher was a moron, so I basically taught the class by constantly correcting and arguing with her.

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cbrooks97@reddit

What would you say is the difference between "civics" and "government"? I would expect them to be the same general material. Our class was called government.

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Aggressive-Bath-1906@reddit

I dont really know the difference between Civics and Government in this scenario either. I took government in the 8th grade, and again in the 12th grade. Both were required.

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myownfan19@reddit

Civics in 8th grade, government in 12th grade

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classiest_trashiest@reddit

I didn’t learn a damn thing about the US in school. I learned random time periods where the US happened to be sprinkled in but never a specific class dedicated to government/civics/etc. I didn’t even learn where all 50 states were until my sophomore year of college. No, I was not homeschooled either.

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nicheencyclopedia@reddit

Both. Civics in 7th grade, Government in 12th- almost the same as you (maybe not surprising since we’re both from VA)

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PuzzleheadedAd5865@reddit

In Ohio you have to pass a US Gov. standardized test. Granted, it’s quite possibly the hardest test to fail. I took that my senior year.

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Hoopajoops@reddit

Just government here

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Infinite-Dinner-9707@reddit

Yes, civics, American history (2 courses broken down by years), and also State history was required in my home state. My children all took the same until we moved to the state which doesn't require state history.

Civics was always taken in middle school and then the others in high school. They were requirements to graduate

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Novel_Willingness721@reddit

Didn’t have those specific classes but social studies covered civics and government. Furthermore in my senior year of high school, I took two electives: “local government” and “criminology”.

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OrdinarySubstance491@reddit

Civics and government were covered in social studies and history classes every year, then we had a separate class on government senior year.

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KnittedParsnip@reddit

This was part of history class for me. Every single year a spent time covering the exact same things with just a little more detail. They also put economics into history class 11th grade.

When I went to college and took college level history courses I very quickly learned that my education in all history, especially American history involving anything that could potentially paint the country in a bad light, was severely lacking. There were also entire continents full of their own rich histories that were completely neglected in my education.

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Away_Analyst_3107@reddit

Both, civics was mandatory in 9th grade and AP gov was an elective that I took in 12th but you can take in 11th?

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Double_Virgo@reddit

Neither

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Bearbearblues@reddit

I think we had a government class (which included civics) and economics. Each was 1/2 the year.

We also had the topics in social studies in middle school, but then taught as their own classes in high school. This was the 80s.

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daffodil0127@reddit

I took neither. They had a course that covered both, but I only needed 3 social studies classes and they had an elective that I wanted to take my senior year so I skipped it.

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Seattleman1955@reddit

Civics in the 12th grade.

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cdb03b@reddit

I took a class called US Government and Economics Senior Year.

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Born_in_67@reddit

I attended school back in the 80’s. In my school system there were 12 grades. I was required to take civics in the 9th grade and I was required to take government in the 12th grade.

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RonPalancik@reddit

Advanced placement government in 12th grade. Law and current events (an elective) in 8th grade. Current events in 4th grade.

I don't remember taking anything specifically called civics, but it was baked into other classes, typically social studies.

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Bluemonogi@reddit

We had a government class in high school. There was just “social studies” in grade school and junior high. Civics was probably covered in one of the classes.

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U-1f419@reddit

That general slot for a class was called different things at different points I didn't pay a ton of attention to what, I certainly learned about civics and government but idk if it was during a civics class or a us history class.

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Ok_Television9820@reddit

US History covered those topics for us. I don’t think we had separate classes for “how the US government works.” We learned about the Constitution in the History sequence when it came up, the various amendments and women’s suffrange andcivil rights movements etc as they came up., etc.

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SideEmbarrassed1611@reddit

Neither. They must have renamed it where I was taught.

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TannerDonovan@reddit

Civics, but I don't remember anything about it except the name

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finnbee2@reddit

As a senior in high school graduating in 73, I had a semester of government and another of economics. As a junior, I had a semester of American and another of world history. That was essentially European history.

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Western_Nebula9624@reddit

I had history in 8th grade (?) that covered some of the same topics, specifically the constitution. Then I had Government in high school (supposed to be senior year, but I took it junior year. I also had US History, junior year and then a class, that I don't remember the name of, that was about works current events. This was in the 90's.

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Ambitious-Sale3054@reddit

Civics in 8th grade as well as our state history class.World history in 9th grade,Government in 10th grade,U.S.History in 11th grade. In the state I live in you had to have taken our state history course in order to get into a state university. If you did not then you have to take it and pass an exam in order to continue classes.

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Southern-Analyst2163@reddit

The High School I went to required every student to take either civics or AP Gov in their sophomore year.

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ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

Civics sophomore year then AP Gov senior year

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ComprehensiveTart123@reddit

I'm 35, in grade school, all of that was called "social studies" and then in high school it was either US History or Current Issues

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missninazenik@reddit

Civics bur I think my Civics class covered government, too.

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Samiam2197@reddit

Civics is incorporated into social studies, which you take every year of school until high school when it becomes history more specifically. In 12th grade, 1 semester of government and 1 of economics.

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Hitthereset@reddit

Civics for a semeser, economics the other.

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kalelopaka@reddit

Both

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Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit

Neither

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Derwin0@reddit

We took civics in 9th grade, which pretty much covered government.

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llamadolly85@reddit

In NY the required class is "Participation in Government" and it's both.

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AnatidaephobiaAnon@reddit

Both. Government was a requirement to graduate as well.

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rawbface@reddit

Neither of those were classes at my school. Didn't have either option.

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Duque_de_Osuna@reddit

Oh boy, this is going back a while. There was a one year class that was sort of a hybrid of the two that we took senior year (12th grade). I am not sure if it is still a requirement

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elonmusktheturd22@reddit

Neither, small rural school (graduating class of about 90 per year, was one of the bigger schools in the region too). Social studies is what it was called, mostly history but also blended in government and civics stuff to an extent.

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sics2014@reddit

We did not have classes with those names.

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Quix66@reddit

Took civics in 10th grade I think. Took Government during my degree in political science.

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Illustrious_Hotel527@reddit

They blend w/ each other, but primarily state/federal gov't in 7th grade and political science in 12th grade. I remember having to memorize the Illinois political leaders and writing R (Republican) for all of them..I'm that old.

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EggieRowe@reddit

We had PEL (Politics, Economics, Legal system) and it was mandatory for everyone. Most got it out of the way as freshmen, but my class has a couple seniors who somehow put it off.

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luminousoblique@reddit

Both topics were incorporated into social studies.

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smillersmalls@reddit

Neither. Government was offered but not required. We did have “American studies” in 7th grade, but that was basically just American history.

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OkYam7163@reddit

Entire year of US history. One semester of US govt.

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AtheneSchmidt@reddit

We had American Government in 9th grade, as a required class, but from a quick Google to learn the difference, the Government class covered both civics and government. It was a one semester class, and the other semester of 9th grade social studies was on American History.

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FloridianPhilosopher@reddit

Government

Same teacher also taught US History for half the year

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