What a Day...

Or night as the case may be...I watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart as much as I can, it is one of my favorite shows. Last night former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O' Connor was Jon Stewart's guest. She is promoting a new website that expresses the need to futher the education of primary and secondary education in the areas of government and civics. O' Connor told Jon Stewart that according to polls taken by the Annenberg Foundation, that only 1/3 of Americans knew what the three branches of government were, compared to 75% of Americans being able to name at least one American Idol judge. (The entire episode can viewed at: http://www.thedailyshow.com)

What has happened to this nation? This takes me to a idea of Republican Motherhood. No, it doesn't refer to bible belt soccer moms in SUV's, but rather the idea that came into popularity during the birth of this nation. That mothers, as the main care givers of children, have a responsibility to educate their children and instill in them the values of democracy, not only that, but also to encourage them to seek office and be activly be engaged in politics. Obviously we are no longer in the 18th century so instead of mothers we have day care and public schools. Why are the youth of America not being taught the fundamentals of government? George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind provided federal money for schools with high test scores in math, science, and English but nothing for Government or History. In my own education, high school excluded, history and government were mere footnotes on the record in comparison to pre-algebra and reading. And, the only reason history and government were focused on in high school was because I chose to take advanced placement courses in those subjects. Honestly, looking at the general history and government curriculum, is seemed rather simplictic in my memory.

This is something within the educational system that needs to be fixed. I can no longer be surprized when I hear some hick saying "well taking Jesus out of the schools in un-American," when in fact, having him in the schools is unconstitutional, and knowing anything about the Bill of Rights would tell you that. Obviously if 1/3 of Americans can't even say Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, you cannot really expect them to know anything about the Constitution, let alone the Bill or Rights.

The purpose of O'Connors visit to the Daily Show, along with a visit to Good Morning America (which I didn't watch because I had school)as I said before, is to talk about a new website she is promoting. www.ourcourts.org is an attempt to amp up the feble curriculum for government and civics. Hopefully this helps. How can we expect democracy when our population is so unversed in the way the government works? You tell me.