Do You Know America?
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:30 AM
Here’s a fun little exercise as we approach our national civic holiday, Thanksgiving.
As we thank Our Lord for the blessings of liberty among so many others, do we know how our civic liberty is maintained?
Try your hand at this 33-question civic literacy quiz.
71% of Americans can’t pass it—and don’t snicker, but elected officials actually do worse than the general public.
Guess what else Ladies? Church-goers score on average two points below non-Church-goers. (Yikes!)
Most Americans don’t know that the President has no power to declare war. We blame our Presidents for economic problems, but Congress, not the President, has the “power of the purse.” Close to 80% of us don’t know what liberties the first amendment protects.
That suggests most of us are adhering to and voting for policies in isolation from any context. If we don’t know how our own system is structured, how can we make informed decisions about what policies will strengthen or undermine it? If we don’t understand the job descriptions, how can we rationally fill the posts of President, Senator, Representative, Judge, etc.?
That’s why Teaching American History is in my list of “favorites.” (Do you have a favorite civics curriculum?)
This may be a topic to revisit, but it’s probably too heavy for days when you’re mostly baking pies and mashing potatoes. For now, just take the quiz—and maybe have your older kids take it too. Perhaps it’ll start an interesting conversation.
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