A SHADOW OVER DEMOCRACY

To the depressing list of things American students know too little about,
add democracy.

Tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Education have found that only
one in four high school seniors is well informed about constitutional
government, how the nation's laws work, and the ideals and values of
democracy. Fully 35% lacked even a basic understanding. The poor results
help explain the low rate of participation in public affairs by younger
Americans. One survey found that only about 20% of eligible voters in the
18-25 age group cast ballots in the 1996 presidential election. But the
cause for concern extends well beyond indifference to the electoral process.

Earlier benchmark tests conducted as part of the ongoing National
Assessment of Educational Progress found major deficiencies in knowledge
across the spectrum of academic subjects. This did not come as news to
anyone who has been paying attention to what has been going on in American
education. Most students know pitifully little about even the most basic
facts of geography. In history, as one national test showed, an appallingly
large number could not name the century in which the Civil War took place.

It's an old lament that somewhere along the way American schools lost their
way. What was once regarded as a common body of fundamental knowledge
familiar to most high school graduates now appears to be the province of
only a minority. There's a lot to be anxious about in all this, and worry
about the future of our democracy ought to be high on the list. The
strongest barrier to assaults on American rights and freedoms, the surest
means for detecting and resisting demagogy, is an informed citizenry. When
only 26% of a representative sampling of high school seniors has more than
a rudimentary understanding of the political process, there's cause for
serious national concern.