The Pursuit of Happiness: Educating American Children on Civics

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Educating American Children on Civics

In an article on the ABC website called, Former Justice Pushing for More Civics, Less “American Idol” by Sarah Netter (March 4, 2009), former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor expressed her concerns with the education of American children on civics. Civics is the study of rights and duties of citizenship. In other words, it is the study of government with attention to the role of citizens. This article is important to read because it makes you think about how much you actually know about US government. In order to continue to have a great Nation we must stay educated so that we can make the right votes. Thomas Jefferson once said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." So let’s stop being ignorant

America

! Ask yourself, who did you vote for during the last Presidential election and why did you vote for that candidate? It is not uncommon for people to say that they voted for a specific person because they had a ‘good name’, or because that person dressed cool, or because they read an article and the editor was supporting that candidate. Let’s vote for candidates because we believe they share our same beliefs and will advocate those beliefs for us.
Former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor has developed a website for children to help them learn civics called iCivics. After reading this article it made me think about my own children and how much they really know. Over dinner one night I asked my children a few questions and unfortunately my family fell into the low statistics. I have added Mrs. O’Connor’s website to the list of acceptable web-site that my children play on our home computer and I have made it a goal to talk about our government to my children over dinner more often.

Rick Shenkmen wrote a book called, Just How Stupid Are We? In this book it talks about the statistics of

America

’s knowledge on civics. Here are some statistics, only 2 out of 5 voters can name the 3 branches of the federal government (Executive, Judicial and Legislative). Only 30% of people know that Roe v. Wade was the Supreme Court decision that ruled abortion legal. Only 20% of Americans know that there are 100 senators.

click here to watch Jan Leno asking Americans about the Supreme Court. Very Funny!

iCivic is a great kid-friendly website, but so is this "old school" video by School House Rock, I'm just a bill.

1 comment:

Amy ChestnutFebruary 16, 2011 at 7:04 AM
I'm posting a comment to see if it works! Can you see this??? :)

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My Talented Children

In this picture, my daughter was 12½ years old. As a 12 year old she was a talented softball and she loved to sing. She was also boy crazy and enjoyed talking on the phone while looking at herself in the mirror. She is now 18 years old and is starting her adult years! I am excited to see where her life goes.

In this picture, my oldest son was 10 years old, he was an amazing baseball player and a talented piano player. He was currently in the top 5% of his class in PISD, scoring 100 on his TAKS test. He is now 16 years old and is still a talented baseball player and working hard to get a scholarship to play at the next level. He is currently in the top 27% of his class.

In this picture, my youngest son was 7 years old, he played baseball and was a wonderful artist. He is now 12 years old and is playing football for his middle school. He is girl crazy and loves watching silly videos on the internet. He has a kind heart and always makes us laugh.