Regenerating a civil society in Florida.

• Author: Pitts, Annette Boyd

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."

--Robert M. Hutchins

Reports have labeled us a "nation of spectators." News articles and editorials question the future of democracy in the hands of ordinary citizens. Studies continue to validate what students and adults don't know about our government, the Constitution, and the institutions of democracy. As apathy and indifference consume our civic culture, what action must be taken to restore the historic mission of public education and revitalize our passion for democracy?

For the Record

Surveys and reports have been released over the past three years documenting our civic health. Before the U.S. Senate last year, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia revealed in its survey of 600 teens:(1)

* Only two percent of the teens surveyed knew William Rehnquist as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and only two percent knew James Madison as the father of the Constitution, compared to 90 percent who could identify the father of the house in the television program Home Improvement (Tim Allen).

* Only 35 percent of those surveyed knew the first three words of the Constitution ("We, the People"), compared to 71 percent who knew the usual first three letters of a web address (www).

* 64 percent of teens surveyed knew the Club is a metal bar that locks on car steering wheels to prevent theft, compared to 25 percent who could identify what the Fifth Amendment protects (double jeopardy, due process, self-incrimination, etc).

The Commission on Civic Renewal, a private bipartisan group created to investigate the condition of civic life, found that Americans are pulling away from their communities.(2) The report recommends improved educational opportunities. Additionally, it encourages people to become involved in local government (emphasis added), to join religious and community organizations, and to strengthen bonds within their families and neighborhoods.(3)

A study in 1999 commissioned by the National Association of Secretaries of States addressed attitudes of 15-to 24-year-olds in a random sampling of over 1,000 persons.(4) In this study, 94 percent strongly or totally agreed with the statement, "Government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, not for the benefit of all." Over half of the 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed agreed with the statement that schools do not do a very good job of giving young people the information they need to vote.

Most recently, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a congressionally mandated sampling of student achievement, released results of its national civic education assessment. The results demonstrate that students have a weak grasp of the most fundamental concepts and principles of democracy. It is a matter of too...