To the editor: California highschool commencement necessities embrace a semester of U.S. authorities and civics, and a semester of economics. This has been the case for a few years. (“Do you know the 3 branches of U.S. government? Many don’t, leading to a push for civics education,” Sept. 16)
Once I taught these topics, I all the time began the course telling the scholars that I didn’t wish to see any of them be the butt of jokes on late-night tv man-on-the-street interviews. So, they needed to memorize the fundamentals. I additionally gave them no matter was the citizenship take a look at on the time.
The issue just isn’t that the necessities are lacking from the curriculum; the issue is there may be little accountability for both college students or lecturers. So, present occasions or philosophy typically take in classroom time.
Each trainer has heard, “Is that this going to be on the take a look at?” The reply ought to be sure.
Alexa Smith Maxwell, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Freshmen on the College of Missouri, Columbia, had been required to take a U.S. authorities course once I attended within the mid-Sixties. For me, it was superfluous, as my highschool social research class in Golden, Colo. — taught by a member of what we now name the Biggest Technology — offered me with a radical grounding within the American system.
Much more beneficial to me that freshman yr in faculty was a category in current European historical past, which coated the genesis of the 2 world wars.
The professor suggested college students on the primary day of sophistication that the Missouri Legislature was investigating him as a result of he was a socialist and would possibly taint instruction together with his “un-American” opinions. He mentioned college students ought to think about dropping the category for an additional elective. To my data, nobody did.
I strongly imagine that each one U.S.-born residents ought to know the basics of the American system. At the very least they need to be capable to move the take a look at given to immigrants making use of for citizenship.
Simply as importantly, they need to examine different governments and philosophies to grasp why — as I imagine — that Western democracies, whether or not parliamentary or American-style programs, are the perfect types of authorities.
Invoice Spaniel, Santa Clarita