EDITORIAL: Bring back civics teaching—for the sake of democracy

If America’s constitutional democracy is endangered, as many astute observers say it is, the biggest threat to its survival may be ignorance.

Half of the people who are governed by this democracy don’t have a clue about how it works.

The Constitution Day Civics Survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that only 47% of respondents could name the three branches of government. A quarter of Americans surveyed could not name a single branch of the U.S. government or any of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Most Americans would flunk the U.S. citizenship exam.

Civic ignorance starts early. Studies have found that less than one in four eighth grade students are proficient in civics.

These numbers have been declining for years, roughly parallel to the decline in civics education in public schools.

Political actors have taken a sudden interest in education as seen in efforts to limit what schools can teach. Florida offers the prime example with regulations specifying a laundry list of subjects teachers dare not so much mention in class. In Wisconsin, a lobbying organization has spent $1.7 million on TV ads warning of the evils of CRT, which stands for critical race theory but is interpreted by its critics as any sort of teaching about racial history.

It would be better for the country if this influence and spending in the name of education were used to encourage the teaching of civics, rather than to restrict curriculums to conform to political agendas.

Comprehensive civics courses were once a basic requirement in public school curriculums. Today, only seven states require a year of civics studies. (Wisconsin is not one of them.) The federal government set the tone for the withering of civics education by cutting aid to schools for civics by 90% since 2000.

The $4 million in federal aid to civics education last year amounts to about five cents per student, compared to $50 per student for teaching science, technology, engineering and math.

The omnibus spending bill approved by a bipartisan vote this year, however, does provide for an increase to $23 million in federal education aid for K-12 civics teaching, which is at least an acknowledgment of the need.

An organization called the Wisconsin Civic Learning Coalition has been formed to, in the words of its founders, “support schools and teachers in preparing students to be committed and effective participants in civic life.”

As that statement attests, civics courses are meant not only to teach how government works, but also to inform students of the responsibilities of citizens to engage in their democracy.

Civic ignorance contributes to the growing distrust of government and the weakening of commitment to democracy.

A Pew Research Center study found that 51% of Americans are dissatisfied with how democracy works and 46% would be amenable to living under other forms of government, including rule by an individual leader.

Citizens who don’t know what the five First Amendment freedoms are probably do not understand that antidemocratic governments do not respect, much less guarantee, the freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly and the right to petition the government.