UPDATE III: CIVIC LITERACY

Unlike other school subjects, the results of civics education are readily observable.  One need to only look around and see how well the nation’s citizenry is doing.  How good are the nation’s citizens at being citizens?  While many factors can affect this observation – like the state of the economy at any given time – overall and through the years, one can gauge how readily the citizenry exhibits those characteristics associated with good citizenry – such as voting, knowledgeable political discourse, civil and law-abiding behavior, and political engagement.

The aim of this posting is to convince the reader a change in civics curriculum – a transformative change – is needed.  There are various areas of concerns related to civics’ effectiveness.  Here are five areas:  political knowledge, political engagement, political skills, civility, and law-abiding behavior.  These concerns – which have been mentioned before in this blog – are treated in this posting in a summary way. 

          One can cite, as this blog has done, an array of studies, for example concerning political knowledge,[1] but, with a limited number, this account will report what the state civic literacy is.  It is not so good.  More recent research extends what previous research has discovered.  Below is a sampling of that research.

There is a term that some researchers use to designate this area of concern; that is civic literacy.  Mary E. Hylton defines this term as follows:  “a basic understanding of the structure and functioning of government as well as the political process through which decisions are shaped.” [2]  She goes on to include the understanding of the values that undergird the US Constitutions.  That includes, but not limited to, liberty, freedom and justice.[3] 

The level of civic literacy is so low that this state of ignorance has become fodder of popular news outlets such as the Boston Globe (a prominent newspaper), the Huff Post (a popular news site online), and CNN.[4] 

A Globe article cites an Annenberg Public Policy Center study which reports only 36% of American adults could name the three branches of the central government, almost 75% didn’t know it takes two-thirds in each house of Congress to override a presidential veto, only 38% could correctly identify which political party controls either house of Congress, and 25% believe that Congress can override a 5-4 Supreme Court decision.[5]  These are considered basic governmental information, the type news outlets in their reporting assume readers or listeners know.

What of young Americans; does the upcoming generation give one hope for a better-informed electorate?  The results of a 2010 exam, given by the National Center for Educational Statistics group, has only 24% of high school seniors scoring at a proficient or advanced level (64% scored at or above the basic level).[6]  This finding, with a bit of improvement, was mostly mirrored in the testing of college students.[7]  An Intercollegiate Studies Institute study summary states:

Unfortunately, the results of ISI's past civic literacy research does not inspire confidence that our institutions of higher learning are living up to their educative and civic responsibilities, responsibilities that almost all American colleges recognize as critical to their overall public missions.[8]

So, in terms of political knowledge – or the more prevalent term, civic literacy – American civics education effort is highly deficient.  The next posting will pick up on this theme and address the levels of social empathy that current research indicates characterizes Americans today.

---

[1] “Executive Summary of the Results of the Latest Administration of Assessment Test on Civic Knowledge.” National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 2006, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls AND  James G. Gimpel, J. Celeste Lay, and Jason E. Schuknecht, Cultivating Democracy: Civic Environments and Political Socialization in America (Washington, DC:  Brookings Institution Press, 2003) AND “Report on Survey Conducted by NASS on Americans’ Knowledge of Political System,” National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), 1999, http://www.nass.org/  (since originally accessed, the report has been taken down) AND “Executive Summary of the Results of the Latest Administration of Assessment Test on Civic Knowledge,” NAEP AND Andrea Neal, “Disengaged:  We Have Failed at Civic Education,”  Indianapolis Star, November 2, 2017, accessed November 6, 2017, https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2017/11/02/andrea-neal-weve-failed-civic-education/826756001/ AND Pew Research, “How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday Life,” Center Political Polarization in the American Public, June 12, 2014, accessed on February 21, 2017,  http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/.

[2] Mary E. Hylton, “Civic Engagement and Civic Literacy among Social Work Students: Where Do We Stand?,” Journal of Policy Practice, vol. 14, 3-4, 292-307, (doi:10.1080/15588742.2015.1004396), 296.

[3] Mary E. Hylton, “Civic engagement and civic literacy among social work students: Where do we stand?”

[4] “‘Americans’ Grasp on Civic Knowledge Is shaky at Best, Study Finds” (editorial), Boston Globe, October 7, 2014, accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/10/06/americans-grasp-civic-knowledge-shaky-best-study-finds/FIF1lRbxhtALacjnKhSENO/story.html , Jonathan Haber, “How Ignorant Are We?,” Huff Post, a blog, accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-haber/how-ignorant-are-we_b_2136046.html , AND Elzie Lee “LZ” Granderson, “We’re Too Dumb,” CNN, October 14, 2013, accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/opinion/granderson-dumb-america/index.html .

[5] “Americans’ Knowledge of the Branches of Government Is Declining,” Annenberg Public Policy Center, September 13, 2016, accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-knowledge-of-the-branches-of-government-is-declining/ .

[6] National Center for Education Statistics, The Nation’s Report Card:  Civics 2010 (Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2011), (NCES 2011-466), accessed May 14, 2018, http://nces. ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/main2010/2011466.pdf .

[7] Association of American Colleges and Universities, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future (2012), accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.aacu.org/crucible AND Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Enlightened Citizenship: How Civic Knowledge Trumps a College Degree in Promoting Active Civic Engagement, 2011, accessed May 15, 2018, https://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2011/summary_summary.html [a summary account], AND Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, “Americans Know Surprisingly Little about Their Government, Survey Finds,” 2014, accessed May 15, 2018, https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-know-surprisingly-little-about-their-government-survey-finds/.

[8] Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Enlightened Citizenship: How Civic Knowledge Trumps a College Degree in Promoting Active Civic Engagement.