America’s Civics Crisis—and Opportunity

School children across America had off last Monday for a holiday known as Presidents Day, but which is still officially called Washington’s Birthday. Without George Washington, the American Revolution may not have happened and certainly would not have succeeded. For generations, public school students were taught to revere Washington, not simply because he was our first President, but because he was a paragon of civic virtue.

Last month, the Trump Administration reclaimed the President’s House Site, located by the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, which had been transformed to condemn Washington. Signage called him deplorable, accused him of making a mockery of American values, and one sign was titled “Washington’s Deceit.” Of the 30 signs on the site, 25 were about slavery or race relations. If we teach the next generation to despise our Founders, how could we remain a nation united in civic spirit?

In his farewell address, Washington exhorted his countrymen to “cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment” to our country, “watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety.” We are not born with such an attachment. It must, as Thomas Jefferson knew, be taught. In outlining his view of public education, he wrote that it must provide “every citizen the information he needs … to understand his duties to his neighbors and country.”

Transmitting such information and teaching toward a deep attachment to our country is tragically falling out of style in too many public schools. In Minnesota, the state social studies standards do not mention Washington, Jefferson, or Frederick Douglass, but do ask teachers to instruct kindergarteners regarding how to use “indigenous and ethnic studies methods” to understand “contemporary systems of oppression.” Thanks in part to the work of the National Action Civics Collaborative, which derides “fact-based textbook oriented ‘civics’” as useless, more states are substituting knowledge of the American system of government for student-led activism. For example, Massachusetts, a first-mover on action civics, showcases exemplary civics work on gender neutral bathrooms and feminine hygiene products.

It’s no wonder that from 2018 to 2022 America saw its first-ever decline in 8th grade civics on the National Assessment for Educational Progress. Aside from the trend of substituting ideological activism for civic knowledge, only five states even mandate civics coursework in middle school.

As the Trump Administration continues on its mission to return education to the states, the America First Policy Institute is proud to partner with the Department of Education and more than 40 coalition partners in an America 250-aligned initiative on civics education. Last week, we’ve published a seminal report ringing the alarm on the decay of civics education and pointing the way toward solutions: “Restoring Civics Education to Revitalize our Republic.”

We document not only the decline of civics across America, but also its tragic effects on young Americans. Only 41 percent of Gen Z is very proud to be an American, compared to three quarters of Baby Boomers. The decline is sharpest amongst young Democrats, but is also strikingly large amongst Independents and Republicans. Barely more than half of Gen Z oppose political violence on principal. Nearly 40 percent of Gen Z would view the assassination of our President as justifiable.

Abraham Lincoln, in his Lyceum Address, warned that a loss of reverence to the Constitution and to American principles could lead our Republic to degenerate into mobocratic rule. If this generation were to be taught more about Lincoln, not only his words and deeds but how he understood our Founding Fathers, they would doubtlessly be less inclined to appreciate a John Wilkes Booth approach to politics.

The good news is that some states are leading the way toward a restoration of civics education. Florida has invested heavily in training teachers about our Founding Fathers and our founding documents. Louisiana designed a year-long, knowledge-rich high school civics course, and students must pass a test on their civic knowledge to graduate from high school. More states can and should adopt such policies – and go further still. In the months to come, the America First Policy Institute will publish, and along with our partner organizations promote, a robust agenda for state policymakers and school leaders.

We are fortunate that an unprecedented effort to return education to the states has coincided with America’s 250th birthday. There has never been, and may never again be, such an auspicious circumstance for a renaissance in civics education. Every generation must be taught afresh what it means to be an American. To keep our republic, as Franklin once put it, it is our duty to ensure that our public schools bequeath the rich inheritance of the American Republic to the next generation.