Read the rules. Argue them. Inherit them.
Students in the civics track work from primary texts — constitutions, statutes, case opinions — and learn to identify what those documents actually say, who wrote them, and what they leave unresolved.
Clause by clause. Case by case.
Each session begins with a primary text — a constitutional clause, a landmark opinion, a legislative record. Students trace its origins, identify what it permits and prohibits, and map how courts have interpreted it over time.
This is not civics as biography. Students are asked to locate the argument in the text itself — to distinguish what the document says from what commentators wish it said.
By the end of the track, every student has produced a written brief arguing a constitutional question — with citations, a dissenting view, and a proposed resolution.
Committees. Floor debate. Written dissent.
Deliberation sessions are structured to mirror actual civic processes. Students chair committees, bring amendments to a floor vote, and must file a written dissent when they lose the argument — because losing an argument is part of civic life.
These are small cohorts — tight enough that every student must speak, must defend a position, and must revise that position in writing after the session ends.