Ignorance: a threat to our republic

I was forwarded an email the other day by a friend at Georgetown University: Apparently when 1,000 Americans were given the basic US citizenship test, 38 percent failed.

At first I thought it was just another dumb forwarded email that contained statistics which had not been fact checked. But then, I decided to do a simple Google search.
Sure enough, the first search hit was a link to a Newsweek article from February of this year which confirmed the disturbing statistic.

I was stunned, so I took the test myself just to see how difficult the test actually was. It was surprisingly much easier than I had anticipated.

Given that I do live in my own political bubble, I will give the average test taker the benefit of the doubt by admitting the test isn’t so easy if one hadn’t studied up on the material before taking it.

But I find it quite alarming when the numbers say certain things necessary to a basic civic understanding are in jeopardy. For example, according to the article’s findings, 29 percent of respondents could not identify who the vice president was and 44 percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights.

I am not sure of the demographic breakdown of the study; but speaking from personal experience through conversation with people in our generation, I get the general sense there is a threat of civil ignorance among the youth.

I think the root of the problem lies within our education system and how we approach teaching civics and government. Our policymakers have failed to create an environment in education where civics and government produce an active and engaged citizenry.

While I find it great the general attitude in primary education has been math and science driven, I think it is necessary to look at the threat posed by the statistic above. After graduating high school, I still felt like I knew nothing about government or civics.

Most of the knowledge I have gained about civics and government has come through direct exposure to material thanks to the political science and public policy faculty here at IU. However, the overwhelming majority does not have that luxury.

I think it is a huge disservice to us as citizens, to future generations and to our country if we do not tackle this problem right away.

While I am not calling into question the great political science teachers out there, I do think it is necessary to warn our policymakers of this threat.

Perhaps I may be overreacting somewhat, but I find the trend of ignorance quite disheartening. I just hope the trend can be reversed.

In closing, I leave you with some kind words from my favorite founding father, James Madison.

He said, “knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

Perhaps if you read this and think you may be uninformed, you too can begin to arm yourself with the knowledge that is sufficient to guard against civic ignorance.

­— cjcaudill@indiana.edu