Nine States Consider Making High Schoolers Pass Citizenship Tests
December 4, 2014 By
URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.tpnn.com/2014/12/04/nine-states-consider-making-high-schoolers-pass-citizenship-tests/?utm_source=Newsletter+12%2F5%2F14+4pm+&utm_campaign=Newsletter+12%2F5%2F14+4pm&utm_medium=email
For decades, the federal Department of Education has placed a low priority on the importance of teaching U.S. history and civics. The cooperation with far-left teachers unions, the federalized education system in the U.S. has restricted the teaching of topics that will alert future generations to the dangers of collectivist ideologies and restrictive government. 
After all, a young adult who does not understand the Constitution and it’s foundation in enlightenment thinking- that our rights are derived from God and guaranteed by government- is likely to shrug-off such usurpations and totalitarian abuses like executive amnesty edicts, unconstitutional gun laws and radicalized bureaucracies like Eric Holder’s so-called Department of Justice.
Don’t take my word for it; even the architect of Obamacare has proudly noted that the Obama Administration relied on an easily-duped, “stupid” American populace to enact the socialized medicine monstrosity.
Now, a nonprofit education group is calling for American high-schoolers to be required to pass the same citizenship test given to immigrants…
You know, when waiting in line and going through the legal immigration process mattered…
The Civics Education Initiative, an Arizona-based non-profit group, is pushing for legislation in Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah that would require all high school students to pass the same test that immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship must pass. The test includes questions about U.S. history and government and the Constitution.
There’s reason to believe too many Americans aren’t getting enough of a civics education these days.
According to the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, just one-third of Americans can name all three branches of the federal government. More alarming is the fact that another third can’t name even a single branch.
Only 13 percent of Americans knew that the Constitution was signed in 1787. Only 15 percent were able to correctly identify John Roberts as the chief justice of the Supreme Court. But fear not, people aren’t completely ignorant: Nearly twice as many were able to identify Randy Jackson as an American Idol judge.
Civics education has been placed largely on the backburner in American public schools as the focus of curriculum has shifted more toward science, technology, engineering and math to prepare students for the technology-based economy. STEM education is no doubt important: after, all Americans need to be properly trained to compete in the global economy. But by neglecting civics education, we undermine citizens’ sense of what it means to be an American and weaken the foundations of our society.
Let’s be fair; while we still retain, in theory, three distinctly separate branches of government, one can forgive the confusion of graduating students. After all, when a president operates as a legislator and an executive, are there, in fact, separate branches in place?
Still, the point remains that if America is going to come back from the precipice of fiscal and cultural ruin, an emphasis on the foundational principles and an understanding of what made America so great is needed in public schools.
By WhatDidYouSay.org
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