By
M.
Richard Maxson
When
I was in public school, civics was a required subject.
That it is rarely taught today. A recent poll conducted by the
University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center
discovered that young Americans are extremely ignorant about the
Constitution and the rights it protects. The poll found that 37
percent of those interviewed could not name any of the five rights
protected by the First Amendment. Only forty-eight percent got
freedom of speech right. Thirty-three percent could not name one of
the three branches of government, and only 26 percent correctly named
all three. Only 19 percent of those polled knew the First Amendment
guarantees freedom of religion.
These
results emphasize the need for high-quality civics education in the
schools and for press reporting that underscores the existence of
constitutional principles. How
can young citizens make sense of our history without a proper
understanding of the Constitution? How can we know, for example, why
President Lincoln was willing to endure a bloody civil war to
preserve the union if we don’t know how that union works and how it
was formed? How can one making sense out of the cases heard by the
U.S. Supreme Court and various appellate courts every year without an
understanding of the Constitution. If you don’t know what it
permits and what it doesn’t, an informed opinion about the
decisions they reach is impossible. Many government agencies make
decisions every day that affect our lives. How can we know if they
are acting within the law -- or if they are pushing the limits, as
those who are entrusted with power so often do -- if the Constitution
is unfamiliar to us?
Higher
education's failure to educate our young citizens on constitutional
law allows alternative interpretation to
be regarded as truth. The result is that propaganda or “fake news”
is accepted as accurate and true. Graduates believe
they are fully knowledgeable about the Constitution yet most of what
they know has been gleaned from the media. How can anyone reach a
accurate conclusion on any issue when their basis in incomplete or
skewed?
Higher
education, instead of teaching the principals that have been the
foundation of American society since it's birth, instead provide a
smattering of classes on hot-button topics in higher education such
as multiculturalism,
inequality, gender, and immigration that will do nothing to improve
the country. This is also the reason that modern-day
American youth are being duped into accepting a European-style march
toward Socialism because they fail to appreciate or fully understand
the rich legacy of personal liberty that is everyone’s birthright
in this country. This incomplete education produces
graduates who find it difficult to find jobs and must return home to
live with parents burdened with crushing student loan debt, which
according to the Department of Education, is at an all-time high of
$1.33 trillion.
According
to Thomas Ginsburg, Zachary Elkins, and James Melton, authors of “The
Lifespan of Written Constitutions,” the average lifespan of a
constitution since 1789 is only 17 years! For
a constitution to last more than two centuries -- through wars small
and big, through periods of great transformation and upheaval -- is a
remarkable achievement. No wonder William Gladstone, the legendary
British prime minister, called the U.S. Constitution "the most
wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and
purpose of man.”
If
you’ve never read it -- or if the last time you did is years
ago, I’d like to encourage you to do so. It’s not nearly as
daunting a task as some people may assume. It’s about 4,500 words
or so, and it takes roughly half an hour to read it. It’s more
accessible than you may think. There’s
a reason our Constitution has endured for so long. To
ignore it is true ignorance.
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