Introduction

Modern civic education actually started in an effort to educate the masses of European immigrants that began to storm American shores in the early 1900s. Educators hoped that an education in American government would help assimilate new citizens into United States culture and help turn the ‘salad bowl’ of American culture into the ‘melting pot’. Many of these early programs were dull lectures about legislative policy, political history, government processes and idealized biographies of American political heroes like George Washington and Ben Franklin. These dry curriculums survived in large part due to the patriotism of both world wars and the defensive mentality of the early Cold War.

When the sixties came around, those mentalities all but disappeared after events like Vietnam and Watergate crushed many Americans’ faith in government. Civic education up until that point was not known for being completely honest about some of the grayer areas of American civic history; it tended to gloss over some of the less appealing elements. When the disenchantment of the sixties and seventies came around, civic education had to take a new turn toward sparking a healthy respect for the heritage of our country and the never-ending movement to bring the reality of US Government closer to the ideal values that the system is founded on. These are the ideas that civic education is still centered around.

• Only 55% of Americans can correctly identify the three branches of government (ABA Civics Education Poll, 2005)
• Less than 50% of Americans between ages 15-26 think that communicating with elected officials, volunteering, and donating money to help others are qualities of good citizenship (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2003)
• Fewer than 45% of 18-25 year olds voted in the last Presidential election (Government Election Statistics)
• Although there have been improvements since the 1998 study, a 2006 study by National Center for Education statistics shows that only 24% of 4th graders, 22% of 8th graders, and 27% of 12th graders reach a proficient level of civic education (2006 NAEP Civics assessment)
• 74 million people cast votes for the finale of the 2007 edition of American Idol. President Bush received only 62 million votes in the 2004 Presidential election.