Sandra Day O'Connor promotes civics education

Retired U.S. Supreme Court justice

helped initiate an online program

called iCivics because

not enough Americans know how government works.

This from the L A Times:

"It's very disturbing," said O'Connor, 81, the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court. "I want to educate several generations of young people so we won't have the lack of public knowledge we have today."

Nationwide, her work has influenced a new civics education law in Florida and pending legislation in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Civics education involves explaining the structure of U.S. government, including the meaning and influence of the Constitution and its evolution over time. Advocates also emphasize the importance of getting students to engage in the democratic process, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Philadelphia-based Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Limited knowledge about the three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial — emerges starkly in Annenberg surveys, which also found that 15% of adults correctly named John Roberts as United States chief justice, but almost twice as many (27%) could identify Randy Jackson as a judge on the television show "American Idol."

Poor understanding of civics has persisted for decades despite increased college attendance, Jamieson said...

Turning Students Into Citizens

This from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at Public School Insights:

The evidence is clear-and should be profoundly disturbing: we are failing to impart to today's students the information and skills they need to be responsible citizens. Yet only an educated citizenry can insist that our nation's commitment to liberty be upheld, and the promise of our Constitution fulfilled.

A recent survey by the National Constitution Center demonstrated that more American teenagers could name the Three Stooges than can name the three branches of government.

Such statistics highlight a trend with troubling implications for the future. We must do a better job of educating young people to become active and informed participants in our democracy.

At least a partial answer lies in a paradigm shift in the way that civics is taught in our schools. A thorough civic education creates citizens who have a grasp of history and the fundamental processes of American democracy, an understanding and awareness of public and community issues, and the ability to think critically and enter into dialogue on those issues with others who have different perspectives...