09 November

[Dill]

(10-24-2016, 10:22 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: And, let's be frank, a lot of time what is covered in that one civics class is not often enough information to really make an informed voter. I mean, maybe my standards are a bit higher but how many people coming out of HS that have taken civics understand the evolution of federalism, the difference between civil liberties and civil rights, the selective incorporation of our liberties under the 14th, or the role of public opinion in the political landscape? To me, these are just a few important concepts, yet I know they weren't a part of my civics education in HS, and I doubt they are today for most people.

If that is true, Bels, then that is a failure that needs to be addressed.  Some of those issues might be difficult for HS students, but certainly could be taught in the general curriculum of any college.

In some states, like Texas, teaching government in HS is very difficult because right wing groups are constantly attacking teachers and courses, so public school administrators water down courses to the least controversial minimum.  There is a similar problem with science. When my son began middle school in Virginia, his biology teacher had to read a statement at the beginning of the class saying that evolution, like Genesis, was just a "theory"--"just" meaning the colloquial sense of opinion, not the scientific one of currently established knowledge.

No surprise that when Trump rants on about executive orders, so few of his followers realize he does not know what an executive order is.