This article by Karen Townsend, from Mother of All Conservatives is too excellent to just quote various sentences out of so I'm quoting the entire thing. In it is reference to an informative website to learn about and understand how our government works:
Civics and our branches of government
and I'm adding:
Understanding the U.S. Electorial College
Bring Back Civics Class
by Karen Townsend
Did you have a Civics class when you were in school? I did but my son did not. Yes, there is U.S. History and Government class but it is not the same.
The good news is that an online civics course is being developed by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the College of Teacher Educaction and Leadership at Arizona State University. The former Supreme Court Justice has a passion for promoting the program and that is good for students around our country.
It is appalling the level of ignorance running rampant among the general public as far as basic knowledge of our government and its workings. According to the website of Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, “more American teenagers could name three of the Three Stooges than the three branches of government. More knew the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” than the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and which city has the zip code “90210″ than the city in which the U.S. Constitution was written. Nine of 10 could name the star of “Titanic’, compared to the seven in 10 who knew the name of the vice president of the United States.”
We’ve all seen the man on the street interviews on cable tv during election seasons. Who’s the vice president? Who is the Speaker of the House? All met with blank stares.
Some blame the emphasis of math and science classes or the demand of English composition. All are crucial. But, so is knowing how your government works, how to be involved in the process, and how important it is to be an informed voter.
Justice O’Connor’s program will concentrate on our court system. The major elements are being placed on www.ourcourts.org and it deals with activist judges. Georgetown University Law Center is a part of the project, too.
Good luck to her. This is important. Knowledge is power.
