Free Republic

The Department of Education just released results of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in U.S. history, civics and geography given in 2018 to thousands of American eighth-graders: "Grade 8 Students' NAEP Scores Decline in Geography and U.S. History; Results in Civics Unchanged Since 2014." The tests were administered from January to March 2018 to a nationally representative sample of 42,700 eighth-graders from about 780 schools. The news is not very good. Only 24% of students performed at or above the "proficient" level in civics. Worse yet, only 15% scored proficient or above in American history and 25%...

According to the website WalletHub, Virginia is the most patriotic state in the union. States were ranked by "military engagement" (number of veterans per capita, number of active-duty military per capita, and number of people who enlisted in the military) as well as "civic engagement" (percentage of people who voted, percentage of people who volunteer, percentage of people who join the Peace Corps, as well as civics requirements and Google searches for the American flag). The state with the highest military engagement was Alaska, while the state with the highest civic engagement ranking was Wisconsin. Personally, I was pretty pleased...

High school civics courses and even college-level political science classes on the separation of powers can sometimes differ radically from the actual practice. In a time when corruption runs rampant throughout Congress, and the legislative branch consistently succumbs to the executive branch’s agenda, change within the government is necessary, say Thomas Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, co-authors of The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track. Both Mann and Ornstein spoke about their book at the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday, July 12 as part of a panel discussion with former Speakers...

The framers of the US Constitution realized that democracy would only work when citizens are included in making decisions. Civic responsibility means not only to possess knowledge of government, but to learn about processes and institutions that are effective in improving community conditions, developing skills necessary to participate in policymaking processes, and developing a mentality that includes performing lifelong service for the common good. However, a lack of civic engagement and civic literacy is widespread among American youth, according to a study directed by Kenneth Tolo of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Sadly, many state policymakers and...