IMO: You don't know Jack about America
IMO: You don't know Jack about America
Do you know who the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is? How about the year the constitution was written? Who said “Give me Liberty or give me Death!”? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you know less about our government than any immigrant who came by legal means. These three questions are pulled right off of the citizenship test that the government issues to immigrants wishing to enter our country. By the way our chief justice is John Roberts jr., the constitution was written in 1787, and Patrick Henry was the speaker of this famous quote. If you didn’t know that it may not be your fault.
The idea that more people know more about who lives in a pineapple under the sea than about who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave is scary.
Studies show that millions of natural born American citizens know very little about the US government. On an episode of The Jay Leno Show Jay did a segment called “Jay-Walking” where he asked people if they knew who the vice president was, the speaker of the house, and basic questions about the US government system.
The most stunning revelation of the segment is how little people actually know about their government. Many people didn’t even know we had a speaker of the house, didn’t know who Joe Biden was, and failed miserably on simple questions about their own homeland.
Is it their faults? Most likely, but the teachers they had growing up in school should also be embarrassed. Even in my own Social Studies classes, I have noticed that some high school juniors didn’t know that we had 50 states. Earlier this year a student in my government class asked if Wyoming was really part of the United States. It’s embarrassing.
I blame a large part of that on our entire Social Studies education system. Throughout school we are taught Math, English and Science until we learn it. Social Studies on the other hand, fall short. Students aren’t forced to learn about this subject half as much as the others, but Social Studies is not a “second class subject.” The fact that many students leave high school knowing how to properly balance a chemical equation, or graph trigonometric functions, but don’t have a clue how the Electoral College works is frightening.
From the time we are in elementary school we figure out that citizenship pales in comparison to math or science. Unfortunately there are teachers who sit by and allow this to happen. Just because the class is required it doesn’t mean it should be easy. Many Social Studies teachers actually enable this dislike of the subject to happen by making their classes easy to pass or over simplified, sometimes not even teaching the material. This creates a larger gap between the students and the subject. These useless classes become a detriment to citizens down the road. It is no wonder that more immigrants know who the father of our constitution is than do American citizens (It’s James Madison in case you didn’t know). If the teachers aren’t giving us the tools to our country how can they expect us to run the country one day? If we the students don’t learn our government’s workings, how will we be productive citizens?
— By Charlie Johns
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- Posted on May 26, 2010
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i know most of that, some people dont, it really just depends on the teacher and school! .... But, did you know that the person who made Spongebob made it for gay people.But the maker is not gay so he thought that it is not fair to the gay people that they didn't have there own show.........
I know most of those things. Some people might not know this stuff. I think some kids know and some kids don't. It depends on the school and the teacher too. But I know most of those things.
But, did you know that the person who made Spongebob made it for gay people.But the maker is not gay so he thought that it is not fair to the gay people that they diden't have tere own show.........
that s a lie i know who said give me liberty or give me death i know all about this an what are country was like back then. so why are you dogging out on spongebob. spongebob never did nothing to this world that was very wrong. just because students choose to watch spongebob instead of learn is the students faults not the teachers or the schools.
I'm sorry but if you believe that just because someone doesn't know this because there American or uneducated doesn't mean a thing sir the truth is i have seen millions of people who are very patriotic but still couldn't tell you the answers to some of your questions and that's because no one cares anymore.
I do agree that students aren't taught much about our country anymore. It is sad that immigrants coming into our country no more about how we became a country than born US citizens do. I think its also unfair that we expect immigrants to know more about our country than we do. Most Americans would never come close to passing the citizenship test. If we expect immigrants to pass this test then students should be taught more about our country in school than equations and formulas. This is our country and we should know our countries past.
People should really pay more attention. I think it is ridiclious that most people don't know these things. What we are known for is Sponge Bob and McDonalds. Social Studies is my favorite subject and i know most of these anwsers. It is crazy that some people didn't even know we had 50 states!
I disagree because that is not true,maybe in some parts of the country but its not like it is at every school in the u.s. This person maybe right in some cases but judging the entire social studies program, thats where they went wrong.
The fact that some U.S citizens that were born in the U.S know less about the way our government works than those who are just now becoming citizens is embarrassing. How can you be a good citizen if you don't understand the how your country's government works or who the leaders in the government are? In the U.S a lot of the political landscape is based on how people feel we need to follow the founding documents. Even though different people have their own views about how to interpret those documents, how can we say we want to do what those Founding Fathers intended if we don't know who all of them are. Basic knowledge about our country is a necessity, and that hole in the educational system needs to be filled. NOW.
Ummm , please do not be mean to Spngebob . He's a very good sponge . Sponge's have feelings too , just because you have the ability to talk and run in real life : doesn't mean you can hurt his feelings in that way . I LOVE SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS !!!! (: