A Sputnik Moment for Civics

Last year's dismal eighth grade scores on the history and civics exams of the National Assessment of Student Progress are not the only warning sign of a civic education emergency. According to a recent survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a third of American voters surveyed don't know that there are three branches of government, and most Americans don't know the number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Even so, 95 percent of survey respondents say that understanding America's governing system is important to the nation's future, while less than half think that...