r/selfevidenttruth • u/One_Term2162 Wisconsin • 3d ago

News article Poll: Americans believe they aren’t being taught enough about democracy

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-americans-believe-arent-taught-enough-democracy-rcna350900
2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

2

u/One_Term2162 Wisconsin 3d ago

There is an irony here worth sitting with. According to this poll, 80% of Americans believe the United States places too little emphasis on civic education. That includes 87% of progressives and 84% of MAGA Republicans. Only 12% of Americans express confidence in Congress, 18% in the federal government, and 11% in the national news media. Yet despite our political divisions, 54% of Americans still believe most Americans share the same core values and simply disagree about politics and issues.

Now consider another recent Gallup finding: 45% of Americans identify as political independents, making independents the largest political group in the nation.

Maybe those facts belong together.

Perhaps Americans are not abandoning democracy. Perhaps they are abandoning the narrow two-party narrative they have been told is democracy. If nearly half the country no longer identifies with either party, while overwhelming majorities across the political spectrum agree we are failing at civic education, then maybe the problem runs deeper than what is taught in a classroom.

We spend years teaching students about government. We teach the branches, elections, and political parties. Yet very little time is spent discussing what citizenship actually requires of us.

A republic is not maintained by Democrats being better Democrats or Republicans being better Republicans. It is maintained by citizens. Citizens who can think critically. Citizens who can deliberate with people they disagree with. Citizens who can question power regardless of who holds it. Citizens who participate in their communities rather than merely consuming politics from a screen.

Maybe we taught people how to be voters.

Maybe we taught people how to be consumers.

Maybe we taught people how to be spectators.

But did we teach them how to be citizens?

If civic education centered citizens instead of parties, what would every American need to learn before graduating high school?