IN A FRIGHTENING study released last month, Newsweek magazine announced that 38 percent of Americans do not have enough knowledge about their own country to pass its citizenship test. Commonly missed questions included identifying the current vice president, which 29 percent of respondents failed to do, and explaining the Bill of Rights, at which 44 percent failed.
This exhibition of Americans' lack of information is not isolated either. A similar 1,000-person study by the legal website Findlaw.com illustrated that two-thirds of American citizens cannot name a single member of the Supreme Court. A survey of 2,500 Americans by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute showed that nearly 40 percent is unaware that Congress, not the president, is responsible for declaring war.
These studies highlight the American citizenry's regrettable lack of knowledge about the structure of its country. As the Newsweek article points out, however, this has been a pervasive problem since the nation's founding. It would be rash to assume that modern society is any less in tune with its rights and its country's workings than society was in the past. Yet with technology and media outlets enabling news to travel faster and reach wider audiences than ever before, it would be sensible to conclude that general knowledge of American government and foreign policy should be experiencing an upward trend. The numbers produced by these studies seem to disagree.
Moreover, the data does not include solely the undereducated, financially troubled or newly immigrated. The ISI study reported that bachelor's degree holders scored an average of 57 percent on its 33-question test. Advanced degree holders averaged 65 percent. Most disappointing was that the 164 people who indicated that they held some sort of elected office posted an average of 44 percent.
The Findlaw study, meanwhile, said that 90 percent of Americans reported that it is important to learn the history and philosophy that defined the American Revolution. Somewhat humorous, though, is the statistic that a third of them could not recall in which century the war was fought. Additionally, half believed that the Boston Tea Party's outcome was an end to taxes for the colonists.
Here at the University, students typically seem to have a good grasp of American history and current events. This, of course, is probably because the school attracts more knowledgeable students than do many other colleges and universities. Yet it is important that a strong understanding of the United States be instilled beyond the upper echelon of higher education. Citizens, in general, should know about their country's origins as well as the direction in which it is heading, which means that more education on such topics is in order.
Perhaps the simplest way to accomplish this would be through increased teaching of American history, government and policy in all schools. If such material were treated more like basic science or math, then students would have a better chance of retaining it once they left school. A comprehension of American history would enable students to place current issues and problems in historical context, which would help them to understand topics better. For example, knowing why the Cold War was fought - which 73 percent of Americans do not, according to the Newsweek study - can help one understand current events ranging from the nuclear arms debate to the rise of China.
Knowing about America's foreign policy is even more vital. Only 58 percent of Americans can identify correctly the Taliban, despite the fact that the United States' dealings with Afghan and Middle Eastern terrorists have been a large part of American international affairs for a decade and a half. American citizens need to realize what is going on both in their own country and around the world, especially because the American population is responsible for voting into office those who uphold the country's rights and ultimately shape its foreign policy. Too many people blindly allow the government to lead them without a strong awareness of how it functions.
Americans cannot be expected to formulate reasonable opinions regarding the actions they believe the nation should take if they are uninformed about domestic or foreign happenings. They must be cognizant of the duties of their government, what the government's laws protect and how the United States interacts on the world stage. To make conclusions without sufficient background knowledge is ignorance at its worst; a better understanding of how this country works can do nothing but benefit everyone.
Alex Yahanda is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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