No surprise, really
No matter who sponsors the survey—the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation or the Annenberg Public Policy Center—year after year, the results and conclusions are always the same.
Americans are dunces when it comes to knowledge of our governing charter. And Arkansas brings up the rear of the constitutional dunce parade.
In actuality, it’s not surprising. The operative reality here is: No teach, No learn.
American children are taught basically nothing about the U.S. Constitution in school. Why would we be surprised that, as adults, they know basically nothing?
Sure, since 2004 Congress has required schools receiving federal aid to establish and conduct learning activities on Sept. 17, Constitution Day. One school program, on one day. Once a year.
That’s a flag-waving observation of the date when 39 delegates to the most significant convention in self-government history signed the most enduring blueprint for establishing a representative democratic republic. But it’s only cursory commemoration and celebration at a time when we need intensive, thorough education.
Raising awareness of the Constitution is a good first step, but that’s all it is. The dunce caps don’t come off without increased understanding of its precepts and principles.
For most parents and other adults, Tuesday was just another day. Perhaps a child or grandchild showed you something they did at school. Maybe they did a fun quiz, like “Which founder are you?” or “Do you know your Constitution?” Maybe they wrote an essay on “Being an American,” or read “10 Fun Facts.” Maybe they recited the Preamble.
By Wednesday, whatever they did on Constitution Day was left to memory, and their schoolwork was back to “normal”; that is, back to being taught nothing about their republic, and how to keep it.
Given the current situation (high voter apathy, divisiveness, low trust in government, etc.), the time couldn’t be better for a novel concept: Incorporate real study of the U.S. Constitution into schools.
Here’s the level of rigor that Arkansas high schools currently apply to the subject: Of 38 courses required, one half-credit of civics, and under the broader social studies program, a half-credit elective of United States government. The only required high school U.S. history course is the “Since 1890” class.
That means, among the 30,000-plus Arkansas seniors who graduate each spring, the most possible public school-sponsored study of their nation’s founding and the 1787 miracle in Philadelphia is a few weeks’ work in two different semesters. Contrast that with other subjects: career education, nine credits; math and English, six credits apiece; fine arts, three and a half credits.
Our high school students are compelled to learn more than twice as much about vocal music than they are about civics in general, much less the Constitution specifically. Turned around, who would seriously suggest that setting aside one day each school year for Vocal Music Day would truly teach anybody anything?
It isn’t Congress’ business to teach our children; the national Constitution Day directive is just a patriotic cheerleading effort. Arkansans get to choose the curricula for our schools. And that choice should address the single, solitary reason Arkansas scored 47th overall in constitutional knowledge in the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation survey, which is: We don’t teach it, so students don’t learn it.
Skeptics may argue that, despite all the credit requirements for math and science, Arkansas students still score poorly on national assessments. Would adding more Constitution study requirements really move the needle?
That analogy wrongly compares apples and oranges, or more accurately, facts and philosophy.
The mathematical underpinning of architecture, or the biological basis of medicine, are the same whether the architect or the doctor resides in Boston or Beijing. But their lives will be radically, diametrically different in democratic America than in Communist China.
The only way to make sure the U.S. experiment in free citizenry continues against the adverse odds of historical civilization is renewed commitment, based on real comprehension about how and why our form of government came about in the first place, by the people to protect and preserve it.
The vacuum of grade-appropriate, continuing constitutional education is constantly being filled, usually by narrower, semi-related alternatives by special-interest groups. Programs like Generation Citizen or Teaching Tolerance can serve specific roles. But without the context of genuine, general constitutional understanding, they may create more confusion than clarity.
Generation Citizen encourages “action civics.” But making uneducated and/or uninformed voters more active, for example, doesn’t advance democracy.
Teaching Tolerance is concerned with, “When are children old enough to learn about slavery?” But the upstream question is, “When are children old enough to learn about constitutional fundamentals?”
Special interests can really only nibble around the edges, anyway. Generation Citizen has “reached” only 30,000 students nationwide in five years.
Our state department of education could inject a K-12 Constitution class curriculum plan into the foundational thinking of 475,000-plus young minds annually. Its study would incorporate and enhance most other subjects: history, math, reading, social studies, art, even the career credit courses since liberty is key to free enterprise.
Talk about a power for change! But only if we act.