For the Nation’s Report Card: Civics 2010, from the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 30,000 fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders “responded to questions designed to measure the civics knowledge and skills that are critical to the responsibilities of citizenship in America’s constitutional democracy.” While scores for the youngest grade rose over the past decade, middle schoolers held steady and high-schoolers even took a step back. Only 24% of twelfth graders were deemed “proficient” in civics and (moving over to the History tests) just “12% of high school seniors demonstrate a solid grasp on their nation’s history.”
In yesterday’s “Answer Sheet,” Mark Phillips, professor emeritus of secondary education at San Francisco State University, had an incisive response to these frustrating numbers. First, he rightly pointed out that “the ability to name each of the amendments to the Constitution” (which most adults cannot do either) is perhaps not as important as a strong theoretical grasp of the US’ economic structure or the balance of powers. He went on to ask:
Why should they want to learn more about our political and economic systems? Why should they care about the Constitution? And why should we expect them to have any faith in their power to affect change?