Justice Souter: Students Don't Know the Basic Structure of Government
By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers
For many students, civics class stinks. Even U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter thinks so. "It was dull as ditch water, but by the time it was over, one knew something about the three branches and so on, and it was at least a structure upon which, as one grew, knowledge could be hung," he says. But "that is no longer true." He knows because he, Justice Stephen Breyer, and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who now heads an online civics education site, spoke at a Georgetown University Law School conference a while back. "What we came away knowing from that conference was the problem that we have to face and deal with was not one of the ignorance of the judiciary," Souter reveals, "but the ignorance of governmental structures as a whole."
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Tags: David Souter | Sandra Day O'Connor | Stephen Breyer
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Civics
Is there a way to cope with this deficit in our curriculum? We are bombarded by the need for more learning in math, science and computers. We have ignored the humanities including history in the universities as well. It is difficult to find a geography department in universities any more. Where the need for a viable curiculum starts and where money savings is being implemented? Yet, wages are way out of proprtion to the means that generate them. I was a teacher. I do not believe I needed $50,000 to $70,000 a year. But does a CIO needs $200,000,000 a year?
Not Just Government Structure
I bet it's not just government structure that's not being taught/learned, but American History, including the Revolution, what led up to it, and what immediately followed it
Ignorance of Government
One ignoranus, one vote!
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