In 2023, the Annenberg Public Policy center held its annual civics assessment on Constitution day. The results were very troubling; only two thirds of respondents could name all three branches of the federal government and nearly 1 in 5 (17%) could not name a single branch. Only one in twenty could name every right protected by the American first amendment (freedom of speech, petition, press, religion, assembly). Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the center director, asserted that it is quite unlikely for people to be civically involved and active participants in the Constitutional Republic if they have no knowledge of the rights they possess or understand the power and limits that each branch of government has.
The precipitous decline in the civic and historical knowledge of the average American is evident in many regards. While young people today are more animated and involved in national political affairs than arguably ever before in American history, they seem to possess strikingly little knowledge of American history and civics. For over a decade, eighth graders in America have been decreasing on average in their basic knowledge of historical and political knowledge. Scores on the national history assessment continued to decline. Additionally, for the first time in American history, civics scores declined on the national civics assessment. Just 13% of students involved scored at or above a “proficient” score. 34% scored “below proficient”.
The shocking lack of knowledge amongst young people in terms of American history has been on full display especially in recent years when many progressive activists on the left wing of the political spectrum have called for the removal of statues around the country depicting historical figures in American history. Many of these activists are quite young. The Biden administration had tried to remove William Penns (founder of Pennsylvania) statue in Philadelphia on the grounds of “racism”. Widespread backlash ensued- allegedy American Indian groups had called for its removal – this was proven untrue.
