What would happen if you forgot to breathe?  You would cease to live, of course.

What happens when you forget to eat?  You would slowly wither away and eventually succumb to the lack of food.

The point of these questions is to convey the message that if we don’t do the absolute basic things to sustain life, we will die, either slowly or quickly, depending on your method of demise.

A recently published Civics Literacy Report shows that when it comes to understanding the basics about civic literacy, we as a country are far behind where we need to be.  As a result, there is a push for colleges to focus more time and energy on teaching these essential skills.

As you read the report, you can see this is not a conservative or liberal issue.  This is not a Republican or Democrat problem.  This is a wide-spread concern that, I feel, falls back on the education system in this country.  I believe that the problem starts in the public school and continues through college.  In my opinion, some of the most important things you can learn in life is how your government works, what the founding fathers thought about different issues, how one person can make a difference, etc.

Some of the questions asked include:

Which of the following are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?

In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a series of government programs that became known as…

What are the three branches of government?

What was the main issue in the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858?

What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, for the people, by the people”?

Name one right or freedom guaranteed by the first amendment.

(You can find the whole list of questions at http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx)

Over 70% of the people who took the test failed it. This score was indifferent to party lines, education level, etc.  This is one area where I think distance education falls horribly short.  This should present a great opportunity for those who operate distance education programs to take the lead in furthering education in Humanities and other topics that are considered by some to be the foundation for our existence as a nation.  

I would hope that we see more of these topics covered at some point.  At the very least, every program should have one required class that would make the student read the book and take a test.   Something is better than nothing.