‘Jaws’ actor turned activist Richard Dreyfuss promotes civics curriculum in Maine legal speech

Ex-’Jaws’ actor Dreyfuss promotes civics in Maine

BAR HARBOR, Maine — Former “Jaws” actor Richard Dreyfuss (DRY’-fuhs) says America is falling short in preparing its children to become leaders and participants in the political system.

The Academy Award-winning star of “The Goodbye Girl” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” now describes himself as a full-time civic activist. He tells the Maine State Bar Association civics should be a required course from kindergarten through 12th grade so students get the tools and enthusiasm they’ll need to lead the country.

Dreyfuss spoke Friday at the association’s summer meeting in Bar Harbor, a tiny coastal town. He now devotes himself full time to a nonprofit initiative to revive the civics curriculum.

He says the United States is unique in being a nation bound together by ideas and each generation must be taught what the country stands for.