Staff Reports
Nicholas Giordano, a political‑science professor at Suffolk Community College and a Leadership Institute Campus Reform higher education fellow, told Fox Report Weekend that America’s civics education is unraveling — and with it, a lot of what binds citizens together. It’s not scandalous or sensational; it’s practical. Kids who can’t name the branches of government or explain how a bill becomes a law won’t be able to defend the liberties those institutions protect.
The knowledge gap is real — and measurable
Giordano has been using a simple citizenship quiz in his classes to prove a point: too many incoming college students flunk basic civic questions. That anecdote matches the hard numbers from the Nation’s Report Card — NAEP’s 2022 civics results show declines in eighth‑grade civics scores and slipping confidence among students about civic skills. Pandemic disruptions explain some of the drop, but the deeper issue is that civics instruction has been diluted, rearranged or turned into advocacy in classrooms across the country.
When a generation leaves school unsure what the Constitution guarantees or how local government works, it isn’t just a test score problem. That ignorance shows up at town halls, in ballots, and in jails when people don’t understand their rights. Civic literacy is a practical skill, not an abstract ideal — and we’re failing to teach it.
Patchwork policies, patchy results
States have tried to pick up the slack in different ways: some add civics seals and graduation requirements, others push voter‑registration drives in high schools, and still more argue about whether civics should include a heavy dose of contemporary critique. The result is a patchwork. Where policy is clear and teachers get support, students do better; where schools are left to improvise, civic literacy falls through the cracks.
That matters when ordinary people show up to vote or judge a local school board fight. A neighborhood watching an indistinct policy debate about zoning or policing needs citizens who understand how budgets and ordinances are passed. Without that understanding, decisions get made by whoever yells the loudest or controls the narrative on social media.
Fix it: straightforward steps, messy politics
The remedy isn’t complicated: teach the basics, make civics a required part of graduation, test for core knowledge, and give teachers the resources to teach it well. Those are policy choices, not partisan wishes. But they collide with curriculum battles over what counts as “civics” — whether the classroom should be a civic training ground or an ideological platform for activism.
Put another way: you can argue endlessly about how to frame history and power, but you can’t defend the Republic if you can’t name the three branches or how an election is verified. States that have implemented clear civics requirements and supported teachers see gains; communities that treat civics like optional enrichment see declines.
A plain challenge to parents and local leaders
If you care about patriotism, national unity, or simply being governed by people who answer to an informed public, don’t shrug and wait for Washington. School boards decide curriculum. Local legislators write graduation rules. Parents show up and ask tough questions: what are our kids learning about government, and how will they prove it? This isn’t about forcing a party line into classrooms; it’s about teaching citizens how the country actually works.
We can mourn the loss of civic knowledge or we can demand it back. Which will we choose — the comfortable silence of “it’s someone else’s problem,” or the hard work of reclaiming civic literacy for the next generation?
