Arizona recently became the first state in the country to enact a law requiring students to correctly answer 60 out of 100 questions on the civics portion of the U.S. citizenship test in order to graduate from high school. The Joe Foss Institute, a primary supporter of such legislation, expects more than a dozen states to follow suit this year. The institute, named for a World War II fighter pilot who was awarded the Medal of Honor, has set a goal of having all 50 states adopt the same requirement by 2017, the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.
Pushback against this legislation began immediately, with educators decrying the new graduation requirement as yet another unfunded mandate and one more high-stakes test that would further burden already over-stressed, over-tested adolescents. Opponents claimed that such a test would not encourage civic engagement or make for better citizens, any more than passing a driving test makes people good drivers, especially a test requiring exposure to that dreaded neurotoxin, “rote memorization.”
Supporters of the law pushed right back, citing alarming data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress that a mere 25 percent of the nation’s students could demonstrate a “proficient” mastery of civics.
Of course, it’s no secret to devoted “Tonight Show” viewers that many Americans, not just students, know little about the workings of their own government. For years, Jay Leno shone a spotlight on the abysmal civic ignorance of average citizens in his Jaywalking segments, where people could name all Seven Dwarfs and every member of the Beatles but not a single sitting Supreme Court justice. It was reported that when retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor first watched videos of Leno’s impromptu street interviews, she said, “Those aren’t for real, are they?” When told that they were indeed real, she replied, “Oh, my, this is so very sad.”
Is such a law needed here in Colorado? Perhaps every high school senior in the state should first take the U.S. citizenship test, without fuss or fanfare. The test could be administered as a “pop quiz,” no pressure or high stakes, just to get a baseline measurement of student performance. The results could then be sent to the Department of Education for analysis. If a majority of students can already pass the test, that would seem to obviate the need for a legislatively mandated civics exam.
Colorado students might well turn in a solid performance, given the popularity among educators for “embedding” lessons from one subject in other areas of study. Of course, hormonally charged adolescents addicted to and distracted by all manner of social networking may not pick up on “embedded material” nearly as well as the princess picked up on the pea, so this test may prove to be a daunting challenge indeed.
If an embarrassing number of students flunk the test, alarms should sound. Bear in mind, the citizenship test does not cover arcane topics, requiring people to recite the Articles of Confederation or describe what is prohibited by the Third Amendment (quartering of soldiers in private homes). Among other questions, it asks test-takers to name one branch of government, two rights in the Declaration of Independence, and the names of the current president and vice president.
Passing a law may not be the best way to ensure that civics is well taught and thoroughly mastered by every student in our state, but surely it is not too much to ask that high school seniors be able to correctly answer the same fundamental questions about their native country that foreign-born seekers of U.S. citizenship must answer.
Contact Teresa Keegan at tkeegan@gmail.com.
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