What Would DeTocqueville Say?
In the disheartening-at-best-tragic-at-worse department, most American students don’t know anything about the fundamental ideas America is based on. (Though they most likely know about the instances when America failed to live up to her own high standards — but that’s a post for another day.)
As former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor– who’s out promoting a civics education program– notes:
“Less than one-fifth of high school seniors can explain how civic participation benefits our government. Less than that can say what the Declaration of Independence is, and it’s right there in the title. I’m worried,’’ she said.
O’Connor blames the “unintended consequences” of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), arguing that its emphasis on math and reading has led to the neglect of the teaching of civics. I’m not buying that excuse, though, and I’m sure we’d find this abysmal lack of civic knowledge and understanding goes back much further than the passage of NCLB in 2001.
H/T Eduflak
