Bitter political disagreements seem to have driven Americans apart more than ever before in our lifetimes. Difficult as it may seem to bridge the gap between Left and Right, the founders left us a guide for recovering the common good: the U.S.
Constitution.
A shared conception of citizenship rooted in that document, and its ideas about equality, liberty, and self-government, can inspire real unity in the midst of serious disagreement.
Sponsored by my organization, the Jack Miller Center,
a recent survey
by RealClear Opinion Research in partnership with the Trafalgar Group shows just how many people still believe in the importance of these values and civic education. For example, 89% of parents say it is “very important” that their child has “a basic understanding of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the responsibilities of citizenship before they graduate from high school.”
This is encouraging news. Divided though we may be along partisan lines, our polling shows there is remarkable unity among America’s parents — across political, ethnic, and other demographic categories — about the kind of civic knowledge the next generation needs to develop the habits of self-government.
The poll also showed there’s a real consensus about the importance of the founding. Parents were asked, “How important for America’s future is teaching about the country’s founding ideas, such as individual liberty, limited government, and belief in equality?” Seventy-three percent of parents said “very important,” 21% said “somewhat important,” and just 5% said “not very important” or “not important at all.” A strong majority of people of all political persuasions affirm the “self-evident truths” that made this country great.
Our poll also showed that parents across demographic categories consider teaching America’s principles more important than training students to become activists. A little more than 70% of survey respondents said that civic
education
should prioritize “teaching students the principles underlying American politics, such as the history and ideas behind the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution,” while just 22% said it should prioritize “teaching students how to actively promote change in government.” A vast, bipartisan majority of parents want their children to receive an education that celebrates America and promotes an enlightened patriotism — they don’t want schools teaching their children that the American Founding is irredeemably evil or our Constitution needs fundamental change.
Let’s be clear about why the core ideas of American civics matter. Civic education is more than just knowing how many justices sit on the Supreme Court or being able to name the three branches of government. It’s about understanding the blessings of liberty and the dangers of tyranny. It’s about grasping the importance of human equality. It’s about instilling a sense of responsibility for the commonwealth we share. After all, each one of us is responsible for the success of this experiment in self-government. It falls to us to take care of the country and pass it along to the next generation.
Our poll shows that parents are hungry for more and better civics education. From elementary school through college and beyond, we need to do so much more to perpetuate our nation’s civic tradition. Faculty committees, school boards, and state legislatures need to make revitalizing civics a major priority.
But, as Ronald Reagan said in his
farewell address
, “All great change begins at the dinner table.” Reagan then added, “So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ‘em know and nail ‘em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”
Many of those children
Reagan
addressed are the parents and teachers of today. Our poll should renew our hope in the basic sense of identity we feel as Americans. The core ideas of America are big enough and good enough to pull together all kinds of people from all kinds of viewpoints — yes, even in our time, when the loudest narratives tell us that common ground is beyond our reach.
If we can start by agreeing about American civics, then perhaps we can find enough ground for respectful debate on the things about which we disagree. We can recover a common language that affirms our shared citizenship in a complicated, diverse, and extended republic. The founders’ ideas of liberty and equality still flow as the lifeblood of America. Our story is still being written. A renewed civics education is the first step toward empowering the public to become the authors of the next chapter of our living tradition.
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Hans Zeiger is president of the Jack Miller Center, a nationwide network of civics teachers, historians, and scholars of American political thought who are dedicated to the teaching of the American political tradition.
