More than a year ago, when I introduced a new online teaching tool for civics and history, I warned how the civics crisis in our educational system will ultimately weaken our Republic. For the latest evidence that our nation’s young people are becoming ever more ignorant about our country, just read the recent “nation’s report card.”
In an alarming survey from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 13% of eighth grade students scored at or above the proficient level in history and only 22% scored proficient level in civics, continuing a downward trend for these subjects since 2014.
When nearly 80% of our students lack a fundamental understanding of how and why our system of government was created, clearly, our children are not receiving an adequate civics education. This is not a new problem; two out of three adult Americans would not pass the naturalization test for U.S. Citizenship, according to a survey by the Wilson Fellowship Foundation.
At this rate, no one should be surprised about the lack of civil discourse in America today. These dismal statistics contribute to the great political divide in the United States. Voters are unaware of their rights – or even how to define rights – and high school graduates cannot even name the two branches of the Congress, much less explain why there are two. Looking to government to solve this educational travesty is no solution at all.
The Framers of our Constitution were students of history and understood man’s desire for power can quickly escalate into tyranny. They crafted a system of government where ambition would be countered by ambition. State governments would counteract the federal government. The three branches of federal government – legislative, executive and judicial – would serve as checks and balances against each other.
The Founders even split the legislative branch into two parts, the House and the Senate, to make it twice as difficult to pass a new law with the understanding it is more important to prevent a bad law from being enacted than making it easier for a good law to pass. Today, most high school graduates cannot even name the two branches of Congress, much less explain why they exist.
We cannot sustain a constitutional republic with a citizenry that is estranged from our Constitution and our institutions – and we don’t have to. Nearly everything a student or teacher would need to know about the basic setup and functions of our government – at the federal, state, and local levels – is available at no cost to any educator or student.
In a “Captain Obvious” moment, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the NAEP’s civics scores show a need to provide more opportunities to learn about America’s government. I have been saying that since 2020, when PBS first aired my three-part documentary about the U.S. Constitution, “A More or Less Perfect Union.” While filming, we discovered that too many U.S. citizens were eager to give their opinion on the Constitution, but admitted they never actually read that foundational document.
We can start reversing this trend toward ignorance with something as basic as the U.S. Citizenship Test. Last year, nearly 300,000 immigrants passed the naturalization test to become American citizens. In that same year, of the 3.3 million students who were graduated from high school, the majority are unlikely to know as much as New Americans.
After the PBS documentary aired, I partnered with izzit.org to create Civics Fundamentals.org, a free online resource that uses the citizenship test to help students learn the basics of how our government works, study for the naturalization test, or just brush up on their knowledge of civics and U.S. history.
We filmed two-minute videos that not only answer the 100 questions on the U.S. Citizenship Test, but explain the importance of each question. The videos help the student understand our government and history, rather than just memorize facts. It is accessible to anyone with an internet connection and it is free. I challenge every U.S. citizen to go to the website and test their knowledge. Will you pass the test?
Nearly everything a student or teacher would need to know about the basic setup and functions of our government is available from a number of resources at no cost to any educator or student. From the National Constitution Center’s Interactive Constitution, the National Archives website, CivicsFundamentals.org and numerous others, there are plenty of excellent, non-partisan, online opportunities to learn about our government, our history, and our rights.
With all the free resources available, there is no excuse for America’s low civics scores.
Douglas H. Ginsburg is a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He has developed a number of free, online civics teaching materials, including Civics Fundamentals.org, the PBS series, “A More or Less Perfect Union,” and the forthcoming public television program, “We Hold These Truths – The Global Quest for Liberty,” about the worldwide influence of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.