In September the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a new, harder version of the civics test immigrants take when applying for citizenship. Sample questions include: Name five of America’s original states, which is up from three in the prior version, and explain why the Federalist Papers mattered. Even though the Trump administration no doubt wants to put new impediments on the path to citizenship, it still feels right to expect democratic knowledge from future citizens. The question this inevitably raises is: Why do we expect so much less from current citizens?
I spent a year sitting in social studies, government and history classes in public schools across the country while researching my forthcoming book, and I can say several things with confidence. First, very few of the students I met, of any age, could pass the new citizenship test. Second, very few of the schools I visited would even administer it. The requirement to commit dates, names and places to memory is at odds with the pedagogy that has become standard in education schools and among progressive teachers and school officials.
In the U.S. history test administered in 2022 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a widely cited federal exam, only 14 percent of eighth graders attained at least a “proficient” level, while 40 percent fell below “basic.” It was the worst performance by that cohort on any subject tested by NAEP that year. (On civics, 22 percent were at least proficient and 31 percent below basic.)
The government school aren't very good as much .
