Poll: Americans Need Civics Lesson

[Kadie]

Poll: Americans Need Civics Lesson

POSTED: 8:19 am PDT August 8, 2005

CHICAGO -- How well do you know your civics? A survey by a lawyers group suggests many Americans could use a refresher.

The American Bar Association poll finds many adults struggle to identify the branches of government -- legislative, executive and judicial -- and have trouble explaining separation of powers.

One in five incorrectly said the three branches were Republican, Democrat and independent. Sixteen percent thought the three were local, state and federal.

While eight in 10 people said separation of powers is important, fewer than half, when given four choices, correctly picked that "Congress, the president and the federal courts each have different responsibilities." Nearly a third thought it meant different federal departments have different powers.

more...
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/education/4822248/detail.html


O'Connor to Lead National Civics Lesson

By GINA HOLLAND
The Associated Press
Monday, August 8, 2005; 12:34 AM

CHICAGO -- Retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is taking on a new challenge: overseeing a national civics lesson.

Many adults struggle to identify the branches of government _ legislative, executive and judicial _ and explain the concept of separation of powers, according to a new American Bar Association poll.


Michael Greco, a Boston lawyer who takes over as ABA president this week, asked O'Connor and former presidential candidate and Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., to help educate people on the subject. They will be honorary co-chairs of a civic education commission.

The ABA poll, being released Monday, shows that just over half of adults can correctly identify the branches.


more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR2005080800048.html

[deadparrot]

1. Sad, but very true.

Gives you some insight into the state of affairs in this country.

[annabanana]

2. Well, they sure as hell need more

than the 2 - 3 week whatever it is they're getting these days..And I would add some classroom activism in the local governments too.. just to give the kids a taste of it..

[stubtoe]

3. Results like these..

support my hunch that mainly uninformed people vote Republican.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ah yes they don't taech much at them fancy schools

and after they leave they are confused further

The ABA should also know they don't read them Constition any more before they graduate from them fancy schools

Ah yes, to quote the Chimperor

Mission Accomplished

[noonwitch]

5. Aren't students required to take Civics or Government class to graduate?

We had to. We took it our senior year of high school, and they had three levels of classes-advanced (called "American Political Thought"), regular, and a class for the slow reading group.

I took APT-it was a great class with a very good, neutral teacher. When she had guest speakers to discuss different topics, she always countered with a speaker presenting the opposite viewpoint within the same week/lesson period. Example: She had a speaker from the local newspaper come in to discuss censorship both in the media and in the school library. There was a lot of discussion by a local pastor at the time about getting certain books out of the school library-the usual offenders, like "The Catcher In The Rye". The next day, she had that very pastor come in and address us.

We also, as a class project, had to role play and find a better way to fund the school system than through property taxes.

[MostlyLurks]

6. What did you come up with re: school funding?

Living in OH, as I do, where the school funding system has been judged unConstitutional, I'm curious.

Mostly