According to two recent studies, American civics education is in a sad state:
- Only 37 percent of Americans surveyed could name even one right they enjoy under the First Amendment.
- Only 14 percent of respondents knew about the freedom of the press.
- Only 33 percent of those surveyed could name any of the three branches of government.
Gene Edward Veith discussed two recent studies, one from the Annenburg Public Policy Center, and the other from Newseum Institute in a recent blog post, here.
An excellent antidote to this kind of civic ignorance for schools is A Concise History of the American Republic, by Henry Steele Commager, Samuel Eliot Morison, and William E Leuchtenburg, a college text that can be used in high school. It is written by real scholars who are also good writers.
