It has recently been reported in both the Wall Street Journal and on CBS/NBC/CNN and Fox News that teachers leaving Blue States like New York and California that apply for teaching jobs in Oklahoma will be required to take a Civics test. Having a basic understanding of civics and American History should be a requirement for any job in the government in my opinion.
If I have to ever listen again to Maxine Waters, AOC or Uncle Bernie say that something is “Unconstitutional” it will be too soon. It should be required that if any politician ever invokes the “constitutionality” of anything, that they have to pass a test on the constitution. Same thing with issues regarding finance and economics. Anyone running for public office should be required to take a high school level economics course and pass a test before voting on any budgets or tax increases—unless they are a mother or a father who has run a family for a minimum of 18years, a farmer or rancher or a small businessperson and have shown an understanding about finances because of their real life experiences.
As the educational process becomes ever more compartmentalized and specialized, we are creating a society of faux savants. I have told the story in previous columns about a young highly educated doctor just out of his surgery residency confiding in me that because he had early on taken a heavy load of advanced placement courses, the last time he had studied economics, history or government, was when he was in the 10th grade! His education at an Ivy League College did not include any course in political philosophy, religion, or history. He said to me that he was better informed about politics and economics in the 9th grade, than he was today as a 35-year-old Associate Professor at the University of Utah!
I spent half of my medical career in the military, and after joining a civilian practice in Boise I was surprised when meeting with former residents, and staff members in the military how little they understood about the “business of medicine”. Having spent entire careers in a socialized system, their understanding of supply chains, supply and demand, transactional relationships between patient and physician that could be disrupted by agency issues entered into by politicians or large corporations that seriously impacted the options for care for their patients, was limited at best and dangerous if they were to ever take a place of responsibility in the private sector.
The purpose of education according to none other than Daniel Webster and the McGuffey brothers is two-fold. One to make good citizens who have been taught virtuous moral principles that will guide their political philosophies and help determine how they will vote. The second purpose of education is job training, giving individuals the skills to be contributing members of society, so they can take care of themselves and their families and pay taxes to pay the salaries of government workers and politicians many who I believe couldn’t pass a basic civics’ test. I Understand in Idaho that students in order to graduate from Idaho public high schools have to pass such a test—Why not teachers, politicians and government workers?
Doctors, lawyers, professional engineers have to pass a bunch of tests before they can work in their area of expertise. So do plumbers and electricians and HVAC specialists. They also have to periodically pass recertification tests—for surgeons it is every 5 years. I would not be opposed to making anyone who is a professional have to pass a few questions as part of their recertification exams that are based on very elementary civics education and American History. The only doctors that I know who have had to take such a test are those that have immigrated legally to our country and taken the citizenship test. Interestingly in my experience that group of physicians is very conservative and loves their country very much! Maybe being educated about what our country stands for leads to an affection and respect for the ideals of our Founding.
Here is a simple argument in logic. If citizens when they are in high school are required to pass a civics test before graduating, why not make the teachers who are teaching these future citizens have to pass the same test? What about politicians and government workers who are paid by citizens who themselves at one time had to pass a civic test in order to graduate, and who are now paying their salaries—Shouldn’t they have to pass civics test maybe each time they run for office?
Citizenship requires that one has an allegiance to the organization—city, county country whatever. Citizens have unique rights secured by government, but they also have unique responsibilities—all the way up and down the chain of command so to speak—from citizen to Governor and President. One of those responsibilities should be an understanding of how government works. If our civic leaders don’t understand that, they will soon come to believe that the people are there to serve them, and not the other way around.
Yes, teachers should take a civics test as a part of their continuing education process and certainly the first time they are hired. So should government workers and politicians.
Can you think of any politicians in your Local, State and Federal Governments that couldn’t pass a civics test? I can. Garden City has more than one that I don’t think could pass such a test. Maybe the older you get, the more often you should have to take the test—or is that senior discrimination? Do you think during the last months of Joe Biden’s tenure as head of the USA that he could have passed such a test?
Who knows? Somehow the competence to govern and make political and economic decisions needs to be quantified and tested.
At all levels of government and in government these “public servants” make important decisions that affect all our lives. Shouldn’t they at least be required to “Low jump over a low bar”? That would help WE THE PEOPLE determine if they are fit to govern?
One reply on “Civics Tests for Those Who Get a Government Paycheck”
Every high school student ought to be required to take a semester-long course on the Constitution and Declaration of Independence -and pass them. It’s a complete joke that most students can’t name the Bill of Rights or enumerate the protections in the First Amendment beyond “freedom of speech” ! (There is also association, religion, and petition for redress of grievances.)
You can’t appreciate the brilliance of our system of government unless you spend time understanding it: that we are a republic not a democracy, that the electoral college protects individual voters from disenfranchisement, and that our government was never made to act quickly.