As expectations for reading, writing and math have increased, emphasis on civic awareness among Arizona students has dropped, according to the state’s top education official.

TUCSON ai??i?? When Sandra Day O'Connor was a member of the Arizona Senate in the 1970s and needed to get business done, she would bring folks from both sides of the aisle to the adobe house she and her husband built, serve Mexican food and beer and work things out, civilly. Sadly, politicians in Arizona and the U.S. are struggling with the concept of civil discussion ai??i?? unfortunate, because civil discussion leads to "good civic action," O'Connor said July 19 at the YWCA Tucson.