Commentary
In 1960, the late Sam Cooke released a song “Wonderful World” that contained the lyrics “Don’t know much about history.” Sadly, seven decades later, his lament about his lack of historical (or any other educational) knowledge from his school days (as he was focused on a young lady instead) has become a sort of anthem for the state of American civic knowledge. And that lack of knowledge has real-life implications for us all.
A few weeks back on Constitution Day, the Annenberg Public Policy Center released a new survey documenting our nation’s historical and civic ignorance. The survey found that less than half (47 percent) of respondents could name the three branches of government, and one-fourth could not even name one. Asked to name the five rights protected by the First Amendment, fewer Americans could name any of the five than in 2021. For instance, less than 1 in 4 people (24 percent) could name freedom of religion, down from 56 percent the prior year….