Do You Know Civics? Why Do So Many Americans Not Know How Their Government Works? PBS

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2025, 02:16 PM - Edit history (1)

PBS, Sept. 2025. 11 mins.

CIVICS. In the field of political science, civics is the study of the civil and political rights and obligations of citizens in a society..Civic education is the study of the theoretical, political, and practical aspects of citizenship manifest as political rights, civil rights, and legal obligations.[2] Civic education includes the study of civil law, the civil codes, and government with special attention to the political role of the citizens in the operation and oversight of government...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civics

DEMOCRACY is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Truth told, I didn't get civics in public school,

save for a one-day lesson in social studies 60 years ago.

I had to go to law school to learn about the U.S. government, federalism, state/county/municipal governments, federal and state courts.

I was in awe of how little I knew.

[appalachiablue]

7. Similar, our public school education in civics was scant, to say the least.

[Irish_Dem]

2. A democracy depends upon an informed, educated populace.

Which values freedom, rule of law, the US constitution.

I am not sure if Americans meet these criteria.

[cbabe]

3. Those folk in Kentucky who were outraged they couldn't vote against Mamdani.

[appalachiablue]

5. Wow, how clueless, dangerous and sad.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Exactly. We need to start teaching civics literacy.

[FakeNoose]

4. I had Civics as a senior in high school, and I found it fascinating

That class and that civics teacher inspired me and opened up the entire world for many of us in the late 1960's. Several of my younger brothers and sisters were lucky enough to get the same teacher when they became seniors, and we all benefitted.

I'm sorry that most public high schools no longer offer Civics and it's mainly a budgeting issue. If the Civics teacher can also teach another subject such as a language elective or perhaps some other non-core subject, then the school can afford to hire that teacher full-time in both capacities. Civics itself as an elective course isn't enough to justify a fulltime teacher salary, sad to say.

[rsdsharp]

8. I had a year of civics my senior year in high school, too.

I think the class was called “Government,” but it was civics. That was 1971-72.

[mwmisses4289]

11. Same here, but we took it our sophomore or junior year.

[2naSalit]

9. I remember...

Civics classes in 2nd grade, we were also learning a foreign language then... in public schools.

[appmanga]

10. I hope it's more obvious that the lack of civics in schools coincides...

...with the the codification of civil rights, voting rights, and giving younger people the right to vote. It's not news that ignorance (as in not knowing, so not calling anybody 'stupid') is a powerful tool for those don't have too much use for democracy. That so many people don't feel participating in voting and civics knowledge is a blight on our country.

[mwmisses4289]

12. Sadly starting sometime in the 1980's, civics classes

started being dropped from school curriculum. It was dropped for many reasons, but the main one was when some fundamentalist idiot objected for...reasons.

[Borogove]

13. If our schools taught civics and critical thinking, we would be a much better society.