Civics

There is much concern these days that government - our Congressmen - no longer represent the people, and in many cases do not even seem to know anything about the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.

Recent studies by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute indicate the reason could be tied directly to students not being taught even basic civics - in school or college. They simply do not have any knowledge of how our government is supposed to work.

When I went to school, Civics was a required course in the 9th grade. Now it appears you can graduate from Harvard and Yale without knowing the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial), or what the three "inalienable rights" are in the Declaration of Independence (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness). And most students are not even aware that America is a Republic, not a Democracy.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has tried to measure how well colleges and universities do in giving their students a basic understanding of America's core history, key texts, and enduring political and economic institutions.

Half of the 14,000 incoming freshmen tested failed the 60-question multiple-choice test, getting just half the questions right. Worse, they barely know any more when they graduate, with seniors scoring 54 percent correct. No school, not even Harvard or Yale, got above a 69 percent average among seniors. Worse still, in some schools - the most liberal, elitist universities - students actually did worse coming out than going in, as if liberal schools were actively trying to REMOVE any true understanding of how government works. Perhaps so they can more easily push their liberal agenda.

"Prestige" doesn't necessarily guarantee quality and excellence. In fact, most of the schools on the losing side were in the elite category, including Harcard and Yale. And while schools like Johns Hopkins do a better job attracting smarter students, when it comes to actually doing the job that colleges are paid to do -- promoting learning -- little schools like Rhodes College and Murray State leave them in the dust. Clearly, exorbitant tuitions don't guarantee a curricula that ensures that students learn the basics about American history and government.

Finally, parents and taxpayers who pay the bills of American higher education need to start holding colleges accountable for the actual outputs of their academic programming and, if necessary, start demanding more transparency in terms of what is taught on their campuses. And we should insist on a strong civics curriculum.

How can we expect to have a government that serves the people if our future leaders have no concept of how the government is supposed to work? Or what powers the Constitution gives to it? Or even the rights it guarantees the people?