Student Ignorance of Civics Is Nothing New
You’ve probably heard statistics like this before: in a survey of 6,000 incoming freshmen at the nation’s top colleges, half didn’t know when the Civil War happened. Half couldn’t locate St. Louis on a map. Only six percent could name the original 13 colonies. And almost two-thirds — remember, this is among students going to top colleges — almost two-thirds got a famous 19th century author mixed up with a contemporary pop music icon.
It’s a familiar story, and it’s been in the news again lately: our kids don’t know civics.
At this point in an article on this subject, the standard procedure is to bewail the decline of education. For some, the decline in civics knowledge reflects the takeover of 1960s radicalism: love of country and respect for its values and institutions are no longer cool. For others, it simply reflects the decline of education generally: schools can’t teach math and reading any more, so why do we expect them to teach civics effectively?
But hold your horses. There’s been no decline.
The statistics I cited in the first paragraph are from a study conducted in 1943. The famous 19th-century author mentioned in the last sentence was Walt Whitman; two-thirds of freshmen at top colleges mixed him up with band leader Paul Whiteman, who declared himself “The King of Jazz.” And you can see why students got them mixed up — they look so much alike. (Hat tip to this Wall Street Journal reader for bringing the study back to public attention.)
It gets worse. Way back in 1917, researchers composed an American history test including items that history teachers thought “every student should know.” The test was thought appropriate to administer to students as early as elementary school, since it contained what the researchers called “the simplest and most obvious facts of American history.” They gave it to students at all levels from elementary school to college, to see what would happen.
The college students scored 49 percent.
And when we look at these past surveys of civics knowledge among college students, we have to remember that a lot fewer people went to college back then. It was the top performers — the cream of the national crop — who thought Walt Whitman was the King of Jazz.
Maybe this shouldn’t surprise us. After all, there’s no evidence that math and reading skills have gone down, either. As far back as we have reliable measurements (which, unfortunately, is only back to 1970), math and reading outcomes for 12th graders are flat. So are graduation rates.
It would be interesting if the TEACHERS were given the test. I bet most of them would fail, too.
I find the author’s logic terribly flawed. It goes something like this:
“Oh, we had dumb kids back then, so it’s nothing new and no big deal now.”
OH, REALLY?!
“Back then,” we didn’t have propaganda-filled textbooks, taught by propaganda-filled teachers, rund by propaganda-filled administrators.
This article serves up the same old Leftist relativist canard…and I DON’T BUY IT.
I’m with Bill, get the teachers to take the test. I dated a teacher back in the early 80′s. She taught fourth grade and complained that in history she could only to stay ahead of the kids by reading the textbook ahead of them was annoying.
Anecdotal, but pathetic.
The author’s final note that “private schools” are “better” at teaching civics is also faulty when one looks at Quaker and other liberal “private” institutions…which are breeding grounds for the relativism and other nonsense which rivals that of contemporary ivy league institutions.
Whoa, Ed, I usually agree w you, but step back and re-read it for a second; maybe I’m wrong, but I think the author clearly makes a case that our gov’t schools ARE dysfunctional and that private schools are superior; hardly the ‘same old Leftist relativist canard’ (although home schooling beats both private and gov’t schools hands down). Don’t forget to read the second page…
The education system will continue to fail as long as the unions and liberals exist. They need the ignorant.
The state-run institution of higher education that I attended dropped its requirement for two semesters of American History way back in the sixties. The erosion has been underway for decades, yes.
Decline in civics ?
Remember, Joe Biden Thursday night cited Article I as pertaining to the Executive branch. Article I lays out the Legislative branch. He also (mis-stated)that the Vice President presides over the Senate only in cases of a tie vote. Wrong again, the Veep presides over the Senate all the time (altho’ may only physically show up for tie vote, in practice)
I read somewhere that students in Poland read and study America’s Constitution.
In this country, hell, you could argue that those in charge of our “eddukashun” for many years now don’t actually want their classroom charges to understand that “we, the people” are, in fact, the source of the government’s power.
Rather, we the people are taught in public schools that we damn well better watch our P’s and Q’s and pay our taxes on time.
Barry’s gonna raise taxes, which isn’t Barry’s job. The very limited (haha) power of taxation for limited purposes is the responsibility of Congress.
The Founders would turn in their graves at the (orchestrated) perversion of the citizen’s place and role in government and the citizen’s ignorance of the real deal.
(speaking of ignorance of the “real deal”, read Thomas Sowell…)
Do Facts Matter?
Hey, if Biden doesn’t even know where Hamas won the election a few years ago (Gaza, not the West Bank) or who exactly was sent in to Lebanon (the UN, not NATO), why should the kids in schools know anything about anything? It’s not like Biden knows anything.
I always hated the study of civics. Yet I was always of that breed disdained as “super-patriot.”
It took me decades and decades and decades to find an American History book I could love — and it was written by a Brit. The book is Paul Johnson’s A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Great book!!!
Geography? i think a jigsaw puzzle with the capitals of the states is the best way to teach geography. Cheaper than what they say: War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.
And it’s lazy to blame schools, public or private. Parents who attempt to teach children or grown-ups who just enjoy learning new things can educate themselves at any age and using the excuse of “they didn’t teach me that in school” demonstrates that you are a lazy fool.
As a former high-school drop-outl college drop-out, graduate school drop-out, I know that the very best education is self-education and all of us have a great resource known as C-Span 1 and 2 that can make the subjects of American History, Political Science, and Economics or that bastard subject Civics absolutely fascinating.
If you know how to read, what do you need school for?
Do you really think that teenagers give honest answers to test questions if the test results have no consequences? You must not have been a teenager or raised one.
I went to a private (parochial) school until my foster home sent me into the public school system after my mother’s death. Corporal punishment was allowed then and, though I suspect I was extremely ADD and had emotional problems related to the circumstances my family faced, I sat up and paid attention.
Now how much of those lessons I retained I will not promise, but I did get a good education. Sadly, private high school diplomas have prevented my two daughters from being accepted in some post-secondary schools. We are told they have to get a GED if they wish to enter these institution’s hallowed halls. Private schools, it seems, are “as bad as home-schools” and diplomas they grant cannot be accepted because they are not accredited the same way public schools are.
I laughed when I heard that. I thought it would have been a point in my daughters’ favor, not a reason to reject them. I’ve worked in public schools. I know who “accreditates” them — they write their own accreditation and then struggle to live up to the standards they themselves set.
Bleh
Talk about missing the obvious. It’s not that private schools necessarily bring about better education. Their success is simply reflective of the character values of the students, and the parents who send them there. Involved parents produce good students.
I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat but a true Independent who believes in facts and really believes in learning the lessons of our history.
So here is a simple fact for America -
1) During Ronald Reagan’s Presidency of 2 terms, between 1981-1989, we were at our economic best in a quarter of a century. We made the right choice in these 8 years as a country.
2) During George H. W. Bush Sr.’s Presidency of 1 term, between 1989-1993, we were at our economic worst in a quarter of a century. We made a huge mistake as a country but corrected it by keeping him in office for only 1 term.
3) During Bill Clinton’s Presidency of 2 terms, between 1993-2001, we were again at our economic best in a quarter of a century, even better than Reagan’s era. We made the right choice again in these 8 years as a country, despite his personal scandals.
4) Now, during George W. Bush Jr.’s Presidency of 2 terms, between 2001-this coming January 20, 2009; we have been at our economic worst in a quarter of a century, even worst than Bush Sr.’s era. We really made a huge mistake as a country on this one by not realizing that the apple really doesn’t fall very far from the tree. Yet we chose this apple again the second time around.
Now, really let this simple fact sink in America and take your time to think carefully this time around about how you want the direction of this country to go.
We made history with Reagan. We then made a mistake with Bush Sr. but corrected history by allowing him to only serve 1 term. We then made history again with Clinton, despite his personal scandals. Now, we have made 2 mistakes with Bush Jr. by allowing him to serve not once, but twice. So my last question to America is, guess which candidate shares the interests of both, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.? I will let America answer this one. We are much, much smarter as a country to want to make history rather than make mistakes and to suffer yet again from our own mistakes by not using objectivity as our first and foremost agenda.
Funny, we learned these things when I went to school back in the ’60s. Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure anything out about sex since they didn’t teach us sex education. It’s a wonder the idiots they’re testing today were even born…
Jeff – Time to school you again. We were not at our economic worst in a quarter century under Bush I. We had a downturn after he was compelled to raise taxes. However, things turned around by Mid-91, and the Internet boom started then. Clinton always used old data when talking about how bad things were, ignoring the turnaround.
Carter was the absolute worst since the Great Depression. No contest. The whole time was essentially one long recession. We just missed an actual depression twice!
Clinton didn’t have to do anything during his administration. The USSR had fallen, so he got the peace dividend courtesy of Reagan & Bush I. He got the Internet from them, too. Clinton actually hurt the boom by raising taxes. Then he let the Microsoft anti-trust go through. It’s no coincidence that the bust occurred soon after the ruling against Microsoft. He also cut back on CIA. He ignored Al Qaeda warnings.
Bush II handled the dot.com bust and 9/11 in the same year. He lowered taxes and the economy boomed. 6 straight years of real solid growth. 5.5 million jobs created, plus all the millions of unreported jobs filled by illegals. Lowest unemployment rates (4-5%) in decades. Even now, unemployment is at 6.1%! 5-6% was normal in Reagan and Clinton years. Very low interest rates (maybe too low). We have had one(!) qtr of negative growth (-.2%) during this “terrible” economy.
Are we headed for a couple bad qtrs? Probably, but this economy has held strong in the face of a massive oil price hike and a Dem caused housing bust. Things have only slowed recently, because of the credit crunch, and all the businesses waiting on the bailout bill. Orders have dropped off. Are any of these things Bush’s fault? No.
I’m so tired of the public buying this bad economy meme! Obama is doing the same thing Clinton did, saying how bad the economy is without being able to back it up! Obama started by running against the war, but that’s turned around. So, he runs against the economy, aka, gas prices are too high. Well, it was Clinton who put in the drilling ban. Now it’s the Meltdown. Again, a Dem-caused problem.
So shut up about the economic records of the various Presidents, as the Repubs have obviously done better. They’re always cleaning up the messes of Dem presidents. After they fix things, the public feels affluent, and thinks they will try the stupid Dem social programs and taxes, and it goes to heck again. Sheeple never learn!
We’re still paying for Carter’s screwed-up CRA. Go learn about the Carter Presidency numbers. It’ll scare you into the Republican party! Your words will be, “Holy (bleep)!”
Jeff
I hate to tell you this but in 1999-2001 , the tech bubble burst and the US had a little thing called a recession that was made worse during after the aftermath of September 11 , 2001 . In 2003 , the US economy bounced back up and in spite of the fear mongering of the press , the Left and the Democratic politicians , the US economy was vibrant in spite of the War on Terror . What made the US economy crumble was the deliberate blindness of the politicians in both the Senate and Congress and the partisanship of the MSM into the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco and subprime lending as well as the energy crisis we are currently having . BTW , the President of the United States from the the time of Washington up to the current president cannot dictate what the economy does . What he can do and should do and that goes with every elected official and unelected government bureaucrats is get out of the way and let the markets work itself out . Clinton got lucky because the tech industry was beginning to hit it’s stride and he rode on it even though he did nothing and when the markets corrected itself , George Bush got the blame .
I hate to tell you this but if you think this is worse , wait until the government sponsored ponzi scams which are Social Security and Medicare starts to unravel and I will bet my bottom dollar that you will find a way to blame the Bushes on it as well .
Speaking of Medicare/Social Security, I think I’ve thought of a way to deal with the unfunded liability. Let people opt out. They stop paying into SS/Med, but the employer portion keeps being paid in. Long-term, it’ll end the program, and people will have more money now. There’s been talk of privatizing part of it, but it still doesn’t deal with the huge unfunded liability. This idea does.
Marc Malone & Wil,
Was it a coincidence that our economy took a downward spiral under Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.? Was it a coincidence that both of them came into their Presidencies after the successful Presidencies of Reagan and Clinton and drove it to the ground? Republicans love to rationalize and minimize when their party is a total failure. Now, only one candidate shares the common interests of both, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr., and that candidate is John McCain.
Pay no attention to Jeff. He is an Axelrod operative.
Jeff. If you want to vote for Obama, then vote for Obama. But don’t try to rewrite history and expect not to get called you on it.
Marc gave you a good concise hisory of what transpired.
Jeff
The difference between the Clinton and the Bush I and II administration is this , the media were more than willing to give the Clinton administration a free pass on the economy and the two Bush administration especially the son , in a very negative light as much as possible . I am willing to hazard a guess that 10 to 15 years from now , economists , economic journalists , historians and especially politicians would question their predecessors on why did they portrayed the US economy as bleak during the time of the Bush administration when all data indicated the reverse was true with the exception of 2008 .
Thanks, BRMueller, for the support. It sometimes helps to have someone say someone else is right.
Marc
You had remembered it much better than I did and that was exactly was how it transpired . Thank you . I hate people trying to revise history in order to make their political candidate or ideology look good .
You guys seem to forget that the Republicans hold the executive office 20 years out of the last 28 years. They also control Congress 6 years out of the last 8 years. The majority of the control within these past 28 years have been in the hands of the Republicans and this is the final verdict of our economy from all the years of Republican control. Democrats have only been in control for a brief amount of time within these past 28 years.
Yes, Jeff… and the U.S. economy, except during the Carter days(!), has consistently outperformed the rest of the world, even now. Our economy slides, and so does the world’s. We are 30% of the world’s economy, or somesuch. Yeah, the Pubs are really screwing it up. Once again, get off the terrible economy meme. It’s horsescheisse!
Teaching — The only profession that gets a raise with the promise they’ll do better in the future.(except maybe Congress).
Marc Malone wrote:
Talk about missing the obvious. It’s not that private schools necessarily bring about better education. Their success is simply reflective of the character values of the students, and the parents who send them there. Involved parents produce good students.
That’s a good way to connect the dots of what I was feeling when I wrote that, Marc, thank you. Yes, in the foster home I was another mouth to feed and nobody really cared about anything but the extra money my presence represented.
The other connection is that the private school allowed my daughters to use the Internet or books or any other printed material they wished to use to answer questions on a test. They couldn’t use copies of the answer sheet obviously, but the idea is — are you bright enough to find the answers, think critically about the question, and provide an answer giving your own insights on the issue.
High school kids today cheat their way to college, go on to cheat their way to a diploma, and then we’re surprised by the lack of ethics of those who run our corporations. I know I don’t make my points as concisely or perhaps as elegantly as other commenters, but I think Marc kind of understood where I was trying to go with all that.
In any mid-ranked or higher university, the Education School is *ALWAYS* the intellectual laughingstock. When we allow the losers in the college brain race to define the race course in the elementary and secondary schools, we get these results. They are invariably going to dumb-down the curricula to keep from being shown up by their students.
Nothing is going to improve unless we get another “Sputnik” scare, which might provide enough political capital to break the power of the teacher’s unions. In the meantime, all we can do is ridicule the posuers that inhabit the faculty of the various Schools of Education in order to set them up for the takedown that is so desperately needed.
Bud – The answer is much simpler than a “Sputnik crisis”. Simply change the requirements for teachers. Many people could teach, but they’re not allowed to without a license. Gotta have the degree in Education. It’s a monopoly. Break the monopoly!