A democracy is only as good as its electorate. That sentiment is so self-evident that it has been expressed a thousand times, in a thousand different ways, over thousands of years, dating all the way back to Socrates.
It should be equally self-evident to the governments of democracies, democratic republics, or any government that relies on the votes of the people that their people need to understand how the government works. That is, if they want their voters to be informed and discerning citizens rather than ignorant dupes.
And yet, according to a new report by a leading think tank focused on higher education policy, the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, only 14 states require that their public universities include a civics course in their general education programs. This lack of inclusion means that civics instruction is not mandatory for all students. Furthermore, the report, which is titled "50 States Comparison: Civics Education," shows that there is a clear ideological divide at work; only one of the 14 states, Nevada, has a state legislature with a Democrat majority, while the rest have Republican majorities. The other 13 with mandatory civics courses are: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
A common critique against having mandatory civics classes for college students is that young people are nearly always taught civics in high school, making further education unnecessary. Indeed, civics is almost universally taught at the secondary level, according to the Martin Center report; only Alaska, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin do not have high school civics requirements for secondary students.
However, the report also suggests that the requirement for high school social studies teachers to earn degrees in their specialty at major public universities is often suspect. Additionally, the civics education students receive in high school is usually not of the same quality as that given to college students. College civics courses tend to be much more sophisticated than their high school counterparts, demanding more and deeper exposure to the underlying reasoning that supports Constitutional provisions. College graduates, after all, form the future leadership and decision-making classes of the nation; they should understand our government at a deeper level than that taught to a high school freshman.
Of course, the Martin Center is not the only voice crying for greater emphasis on civics education in academia. The need to bolster knowledge of how our government works and the roles of active citizens has not escaped the Trump administration's notice. Recently, the Department of Education announced it was giving over $153 million in new grant awards to colleges and universities, public K-12 schools, and non-profit organizations focused on American History and civics education through the American History and Civics Seminars Program.
"These grants reflect the Trump Administration's ongoing efforts to educate and inspire youth toward informed and patriotic citizenship in the lead-up to America's 250th birthday," declared Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. "We are focused on restoring civics education and advancing a shared understanding of America's founding principles and rich history in schools across the Nation."
As Kent indicated, such measures are also intended to sync up with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding next year. President Trump and Congress joined forces to create The America 250 Initiative to direct the sesquicentennial activities. Given Trump's general remarks about the nation, these activities will be intended to create a resurgence of love for the country. That element has been missing from much of the historical and civic dialogue in recent decades. There is a strong argument to be made that a return to a patriotic perspective is badly needed, for it is difficult to see how a nation can remain whole without the people having a positive attitude toward it.
There may be no facet of education more critical than countering the negative opinions directed toward America and its people in recent years. The source for many of those opinions has been academia; it may now be time for academia to pay the nation back for the harm it has done to our national identity by improving civics education and making it mandatory for all college students.
And in doing so, we can once again have the informed and discerning citizenry needed for a free, self-governing nation.
Jay Schalin is a senior fellow at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a think tank focused on higher education reform.
