Civic education, cyber-style.

• Position: HARRINGTON AWARD

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Civic education is:

1. Not relevant today

2. An easy A with a boring teacher to fulfill a high school requirement

3. Virginia's Capitol Classroom

Correct answer: C

If you picked A or B, turn on your computer and visit the Virginia General Assembly's Capitol Classroom. Find out how engaging, interesting and just plain fun civic education can be--not to mention educational.

Inspired, conceived and run by four legislative staffers, the Capitol Classroom opens the door to a legislative world that embraces history--Thomas Jefferson designed the state capitol and modeled it after an ancient Roman temple in Nimes, France; emblems--the state dog is the foxhound, the beverage is milk, the bird is the Northern Cardinal; and civics programs--from NCSL's America's Legislators Back to School Program, to Project Citizen and internships for high school, college and graduate students. It also has virtual tours of the capitol, ways to find your assemblyman and senator, board games on how a bill becomes a law, and puzzles and activities, including a civics IQ test.

It's all designed to help kids--and adults--understand how representative democracy works. It represents a Virginia tradition that began with Jefferson himself--the idea that citizens have a responsibility to participate in their government. The Virginia General Assembly is committed to the idea and states it on its website:

"Active citizen participation is an integral part of a functioning representative democracy. Members of...