I run into resistance all of the time when supporting measures that would improve knowledge and literacy in the core academic subjects. That is why I’m making a public appeal to those who care about the poor quality of civics education students are receiving.
In the last legislative session, there were two Bills (HB 319 and HB 320) presented by Representative Michael Moffett. Both of these Bills required students to pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services civics naturalization test before graduation.
HB 319 required this of college students, and HB 320 required passage of the test by high school students.
HB 320 was signed into law by Governor Sununu, so now high school students need to attain a grade of 70 percent or better on the civics naturalization examination in order to graduate from high school.
Unfortunately, HB319 was not supported by the New Hampshire Senate Education Committee, despite its passage in the House after bipartisan sponsorship and bipartisan support, including 11-0 support from House Education Committee’s GOP members.
I can’t imagine how HB319 did not receive enough votes in the Senate Education Committee, but that means we need to work hard when all of The New Hampshire Senators vote on it in January.>
If you’ve been witness to the decline in civics education, there are ways that we can support these public institutions. If you believe that those graduating from our colleges and universities need to know some basic knowledge in civics, then you can help. You can contact the New Hampshire Senators and ask them to support HB 319 when it comes to the Senate floor.
Why would our New Hampshire Senators want to vote FOR HB 319?
1) 80% of the respondents to an NH Journal poll supported this graduation requirement. It is widely popular.
2) Purdue University added this civics testing requirement.
3) An embarrassing 2018 study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found that only 36% of Americans could pass the citizenship test. But 98% of naturalized candidates now pass the abbreviated oral versions.
4) High school graduates who already passed the civics assessment meet this requirement and would not have to repeat it in college.
5) There are exemptions to this requirement, like foreign nationals.
6) A few years ago, Teacher of the Year from Exeter spoke before the State Board of Education on civics education after receiving his award. He was critical of the over-emphasis on STEM (Science Technology and Math) because it has negatively impacted civics literacy.
7) Supreme Court Justices have been highly critical, and concerned about the lack of civics literacy. They called for more civics education.
8) Civics education tends to focus on political activism versus academic content knowledge.
9) This is one way to help ensure an educated citizenry.
10) Those opposed have mentioned that we can Google this information. That’s another way of ignoring an illiteracy problem.
11) The test can be taken online as many times as needed in order to pass.
12) 63% of college graduates didn’t know the term length of a U.S. Senator.
13) Passing this assessment would increase the value of the college diploma.
Here is the language that would be added to New Hampshire law if HB 319 were to be signed into law:
New Section; Community College System of New Hampshire; Civics Graduation Requirement. Amend RSA 188-F by inserting after section 6 the following new section:
188-F:6-a Every student admitted or transferring to an institution in the community college system of New Hampshire on or after January 1, 2023 shall, as a requirement for graduation and in addition to any other degree graduation requirements, show proof of having passed the 128-question 2020 version of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization test with a score of 70 of better, or shall be required take and pass such test with a score of 70 or greater. Community college system of New Hampshire institutions shall establish procedures to administer, certify, and record results of this assessment for students needing to satisfy this requirement. Exchange students and foreign nationals shall be exempt from this section.
One might want to ask themselves, why would anyone oppose improving literacy in Civics? Unfortunately, the institutions themselves tend to object when there are attempts to raise the bar. That is unfortunate because that is what leads to the conclusion that these public institutions are not always making the effort to improve literacy in the core academic subjects.
*If you are fed up with what you see happening to our public institutions, and understand that there are ways to improve upon their product, then you can do something.
