We at St. Richard’s School believe that well-rounded education should lead to more than simply knowing lots of information; the purpose of education is to shape individuals into more informed, caring, and responsible people who will share in the task of making society a better place for all people. Virtually all of a St. Richard’s education, whether garnered in the formal Classic Curriculum or in other less formalized lessons and programs, is focused on helping students become the best people and citizens that they can possibly be.

Even though that is true, highlighting Civic Responsibility as one of the “Pillars of Success” holds this aspect of St. Richard’s up to the light of scrutiny and ensures that this ideal of citizenship formation is recognized as important and a special part of the overall program. The National Alliance for Civic Education notes, “Civic knowledge and participation are not passed down through the genetic code – they require that each generation of students learn civic facts, learn democratic ideals, and connect such concepts to the responsibility of citizenship.” At St. Richard’s, democratic ideals and overall civic responsibility are not only taught throughout the grade levels, they are practiced as norms in daily life.

The Early Childhood program at all three levels abounds with the rudiments of life together as a community, the fundamentals of personal responsibility, and the essentials of respect for self and others. The Lower School classes begin the study of social contracts, governments, basic rights and responsibilities, the vagaries of the treatment of social groups in society throughout history, the influence of cultural and environmental influences on society, the specificity of life in Indiana and its communities, and more. In Middle School, students begin to hone their analytical skills a bit more while learning about the intricacies of the foundations of western civilization and governmental systems, the American system of government, and challenges to this form of government. Not only do MS students learn about civic responsibility, they begin to live it in more concrete ways. In venues like Student Council, serving as State House pages, the Middle School Leadership forum sponsored by SRS, the “We the People” constitution competition sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, and various community service projects in the surrounding neighborhoods, SRS students put their civic responsibility education to the test in authentic ways.