NOT KNOWING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Early on in the history of this blog, I made the point that our efforts in civics education have been less than optimal; that while I was not placing the blame on any one set of professionals, parents, or community members, our secondary students were not learning enough civic content, civic content acquisition skills, citizen participatory skills, or acquiring healthy participatory dispositions. These have been the areas that civics education leaders have identified as appropriate pedagogic aims for a civics curriculum. In a series of postings, I introduced research that supports these conclusions although some of the cited works found that American students might compare somewhat favorably in regard to some of these concerns. Yet, my overall conclusion was that American efforts could and should be much better than what they are. Kathleen Hall Jamieson reflects this general finding:

In the past decade, low levels of youth voting and non-proficient student performance on a widely respected civics assessment test have elicited efforts to increase the amount and quality of time spent teaching civic education and have ignited a movement to create common standards in the social studies.¹

This current evaluation of our civics instruction further validates concerns over our lack of success in this subject area.

And what are the consequences of such shortcomings; are they important? A look at a current policy area gives us a hint. Recent polling regarding gun safety gives us pause about how informed citizens are about gun safety. While Americans consistently claim that we need better enforcement of our gun laws, they have little knowledge of what those laws are. And this lack of knowledge has political ramifications.

Joel Benenson and Katie Connolly² report survey research results on the lack of knowledge most Americans have over an issue that has dominated a lot of air time on TV and space on other media. Given the recent shooting incidents, I believe it is safe to say that the overwhelming number of Americans have given thought to the controversy over whether our government should enact stricter laws concerning the availability of certain types of weapons, specifically assault rifles and their accompanying magazines, particularly of higher-capacity. I would like to summarize some of their findings:

• A large percentage of American respondents expressed the belief that there are laws requiring background checks on all gun purchases and that they also ban high-capacity magazines. Neither claim is true.
• A majority of respondents believe that it is illegal to sell a gun to a person on the terrorist watch list. Not true; it's legal to do so.
• Significant numbers of Americans believe that federal law requires reporting large quantities of purchased amounts of ammunition. It doesn't.
• Significant numbers of Americans don't know whether it is legal or illegal to purchase ammunition over the Internet. It's legal.

This level of misinformation or lack of knowledge among Americans makes it easier for those organized to stop any effort to change our gun laws. Americans want many of the changes that are being proposed by gun safety advocates.³ But if many to most Americans incorrectly believe that the laws already provide for those sanctions and limitations, their voice is to varying degrees either muted or confused. Hence, the ability to succeed in making the needed changes in law become much more difficult. Ignorance is consequential. The rate at which Americans are being killed by guns and rifles is alarming. Something needs to be done and a misinformed citizenry doesn't help. 

 

1Jamieson, K. H. (2013). The challenges facing civic education. Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Spring, 142 (2), p. 65.

2Benenson, J. and Connolly, K. (2013). Don't know much about gun laws. New York Times, April 7, Sunday Review Section, p. 6.

3Ibid.