On the first day of his American National Government class, Prof. Kevin Dopf asks how many of his students are United States citizens. Every hand shoots up.
“So, how did all you people become citizens?” he asks. “Did you pass a test?”
“No,” one young woman says tentatively. “We were born here.”
It’s a good thing. Based on his years of making his students at the University of South Carolina Beaufort take the test given to immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, most would be rejected.
Most states require some sort of high school civics instruction. But with surveys showing that a third of American adults can’t name the three branches of the federal government, and one in which 10% of college graduates think Judith Sheindlin – TV’s “Judge Judy” – serves on the U.S. Supreme Court, many think we should be aiming higher.
The AP citizenship quiz shouldn’t be AP, it should be a requirement to graduate.
I think ap doesn’t mean advanced placement, but associated press. Or I got whooshed.
It is the Associated Press. Damn, I should have clarified that. My bad.
One would think the apnews.com link and Associated Press site would be a good indicator.
Oops. I stand by my general statement. Passing a civics quiz should be required to graduate high school.
US history and US govt are required courses in most high schools. The information they teach is generally what would be on the citizenship test
Yes. And other standardized test subjects are taught in classes.
Most states (perhaps all of them?) require at least a year of US history to get a HS diploma. They do not guarantee the students retain the knowledge after passing the class, of course.
A year of U.S. history and a civics class are in no way the same.
I agree civics is immensely important, but I think we might have bigger issues in our education system.
https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now
I realize there are other problems like literacy, but it’s not like we can’t do both work on literacy and civics.