By: John Fund – nationalreview.com – July 6, 2025

In our highly partisan political moment, civics education is perhaps more important than ever.

As we celebrated the Fourth of July, there was a general acknowledgement that America is severely polarized along party lines. A new Gallup poll shows that the partisan gap on basic patriotism is now the width of the Grand Canyon.

Gallup reports that Americans have become less patriotic over time, and that difference is primarily driven by Democrats. Only 36 percent of them say they are extremely or very proud of America, the lowest number ever recorded. Among Generation Z, those adults born in 1997 or later, only 24 percent of Democrats are extremely or very proud of the U.S. More Gen Z Democrats say they have little or no pride in being American (32 percent). For comparison, 53 percent of independents express a great deal of pride in their country, though this represents a drop of seven points from last year. National pride among Republicans registered at 92 percent, up from 85 percent in Gallup’s measurement last year.

There are many possible explanations for the general decline in patriotism — from poor economic prospects for young people to greater partisan rancor — but surely one factor is that public schools, and many private schools, now rarely teach civics or a positive view of America’s Founding.

A new Cato Institute poll reveals a shocking level of ignorance about U.S. history and our government. A majority of respondents (53 percent) didn’t know why the American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Young people were the least likely to know, with 65 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds expressing ignorance. Maybe that explains why 53 percent of Gen Z respondents also support writing a new U.S. Constitution. It’s easy to want to scrap something when you don’t even know what’s of value about it.

In his 1989 farewell address, Ronald Reagan’s message was upbeat but included a cautionary note: “Are we doing a good-enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?”

Even back then, the Gipper worried that we were not handing down to future generations a responsible love of country. “We’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important,” he urged parents and teachers. “If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.”

If the last three and a half decades have taught us anything, it is just how prescient Reagan was. Every time I speak to high school or college classes, I am stunned by what students haven’t learned. How our government’s separation of powers was set under the Constitution; how federal, state, and local governments work; how bills are originated, and how they go through the system and are amended; the powers government has — and doesn’t have; and how citizens can find out how their rights can be used and misused.

Terry Ponick, an editor of Communities Digital News, wrote to me saying that he sees the day-to-day local consequences of this knowledge vacuum: “Graduates unfamiliar with these concepts, which have generally proved successful since 1789 (save for the Civil War), will have no reason to support them or think they’re a positive force for good. And that, in turn, enables them to think a new governmental system — socialism — would be a better replacement.”

The urgent need for school choice programs — including the national one included in the newly passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which might help restore a sense of American exceptionalism, has never been clearer. Ever since the 1980s, public schools and many private ones have ended or curtailed civics and social studies classes in favor of frills or easily testable subjects such as math or reading. In 2011, all federal funding for civics and social studies was eliminated.

But Reagan himself was far too practical to believe that the job of reintroducing the study of self-government could be left to the schools alone. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” he said in his farewell address. “So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ’em know and nail ’em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”

Doing so is absolutely necessary if we are to have any success in efforts that aim to “make America great again.” “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” Reagan reminded us. “We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

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Source: American History and Civics Education More Important than Ever | National Review