Our country 'Tis of Thee... How much do we know about our sweet land of liberty? Shockingly little.

• Author: McClure, Megan
• Position: GOVERNMENT

You know how a bill becomes a law. But do your constituents? Do they know how the responsibilities of state legislators differ from those of our lawmakers in Congress? Or how a case gets to the Supreme Court? And, as far as state budgets go, do they understand what their taxes pay for?

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Civics--the study of how government works and the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen--seems to be disappearing. Fewer than 30 percent of fourth-, eighth - and 12th-grade students were proficient in civics, and a significant gap persists between white students and students of racial and ethnic minority groups, according to the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress civics assessment. The assessment found a decline in the overall civics knowledge of high school seniors between 2006 and 20 I 0. This ignorance of the responsibilities of citizenship results in young people being inadequately prepared to participate in the democratic process. With only about half our citizens bothering to vote, it's clear that "we the people" are not as engaged in government as we should be.

To achieve proficiency in civics is not particularly complex; it doesn't take years to learn the basics. And yet, less than half of eight-graders tested in the most recent national civics exam knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights, and only one in 10 eighth-graders demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances our country relies on through the three branches of government.

An Ongoing Concern

The problem is not just with today's students. Barely one-third of more than 1,400 adults could name the three branches of government in a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. One-fifth of respondents thought that a 5-4 Supreme Court vote would be sent back to Congress for consideration. These results "demonstrate that many know surprisingly little" about our government, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annen berg Center, and offer "dramatic evidence of the need for more and better civics education."

Why is this alarming? "A democratic government cannot function without citizens' participation, and civics education provides the bedrock for that participation. The less the population knows and understands about how the American system of government works and the values and history behind it, the more vulnerable the system becomes," says Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic Education.

"Today's students are tomorrow's leaders, and giving them a strong foundation in civic values is critical to the vitality of America's democracy and economy in the 21st century," said former U.S. Secretary of Education...