American Civic Literacy Gets an "F"

With President Trump’s recent declaration of a “national emergency” on the southwest border, Americans are now witness to a Constitutional crisis in which the executive and legislative branches are contesting what our founding values, Constitutional charter, and historical precedent permit or do not sanction.  Our ability as citizens to understand and deliberate about this issue is compromised by a lack of understanding about our Constitution and history. 

Immigrants who seek citizenship must pass a civics test with a score of 60 percent.  Yet, according to a 2018 survey by the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, only 36 percent of citizens can pass a test drawing on the same questions. 

Constitution Day surveys by the Annenberg Public Policy Center in 2016-2017 complement this finding.  Thirty-seven percent could not name any rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, and 74 percent could not name all three branches of government.  Fifty-three percent incorrectly said that those here illegally have no rights under the Constitution.  In regard to foreign affairs, 39 percent would allow Congress to stop news media from reporting on any issue of national security without government approval, the same percentage who think the president can unilaterally declare war.  In a survey of college seniors, more than half did not know the Bill of Rights prohibits establishment of an official religion.

This lack of knowledge leaves Americans open to actions that threaten the democracy launched with the American Revolution.  On that topic, we should also be concerned.  Surveys by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute showed that only 24 percent know why the colonists fought the British, and less than half of college students know that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" comes from the Declaration of Independence.  Even more disturbing, data from the World Values Survey shows that one in six Americans now say it would be a "good" or "very good" thing for the army to rule in the United States, up from one in 16 in 1995.  Only 32 percent of those born in the 1980s think it is "essential" to live in a country governed by democracy.

Americans don't understand basic facts about government today. A 2016 Kaiser poll found only three percent of Americans know what portion of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid (one percent), with the average answer coming in at nearly a third.  In her new book, The Government-Citizen Disconnect, Suzanne Mettler argues that Americans hold such conflicting views as electing members of Congress who want to repeal Obamacare while at the same time approving ballot measures that expand Medicaid in their states, a key Obamacare provision.

This is a failure of the American educational system, the media, and government itself.

Students in the primary grades don't spend enough time on American history and government.  The 2018 Brown Center Report on American Education concluded that increased time devoted to reading and math has decreased time devoted to civics.  College does not help. ISI's surveys found students scored an "F" on its civic literacy exam (54.2 percent pass).  Even Harvard seniors scored just D+ (69.6 percent pass).  College seniors scored a scant 1.5 percent better than freshmen, and at many schools they scored worse.

The media, especially cable and Internet, do little to help. They too often focus on stoking anger, biased coverage, and spreading false information in the pursuit of viewer share and partisan advantage.  A 2016 Pew Research Center report found that only 7% of web-using adults have a lot of trust in the information they get from news on social media sites.

For its part, the federal government puts out a huge amount of information, but most is not communicated in a way that clearly informs the average citizen. The problem is compounded by the fact that only 18 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington "almost always or most of the time."

Those who contribute to the problem can contribute to its solution.  The Brown Center report found that students in some schools did better, and much can be learned from them to help others.  ISI found that when students took more American history and political science courses, they did better on the civic literacy test. 

For their part, the media and government can find simpler and more impactful ways to educate, and they can adopt more balanced and ethical practices to improve knowledge and trust.

In his Farewell Address, George Washington reflected on the importance of right understanding among Americans.  "In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened," he said.  It was a truth then and still is. Yet it is more promise than reality.

Photo Credit: Carol Donsky Newell