[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 27053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 THE CONSTITUTION IN TODAY'S CLASSROOM

 Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an important 
matter brought to my attention by one of my constituents. I recently 
received a letter from G. Ross Darnell, and he pointed out the 
importance of educating our students about the Constitution. In his 
letter, though, he also mentioned that our educational system has not 
been performing well in this area. I agree with Mr. Darnell on both 
points.
  The importance of education in preserving our liberties has been 
realized since the founding of our Republic. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson 
wrote to James Madison with his reflections on the new Constitution. In 
that letter he said, ``I hope the education of the common people will 
be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the 
most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.'' 
Jefferson knew if the people were not aware of the freedoms guaranteed 
by the Constitution they would be powerless to stop any encroachments 
upon them. I'm sure Mr. Jefferson would be quite alarmed at the state 
of ignorance today.
  While it is a cliche that a generation always finds faults with the 
one which follows, there is no denying that in terms of constitutional 
knowledge, the level of ignorance is severe. A poll of teenagers last 
year illustrates this. Only forty-one percent could name the 
constitutionally ordained branches of our government, only twenty-one 
percent could say that there were one hundred senators, and only 
thirty-six percent knew one of the most important phrases in our 
nation's history: ``We the People . . .'' These teenagers are moving 
into adulthood, but they are not taking with them a knowledge of our 
nation's Constitution.
  It is undeniable that our educational system has failed to address 
this deficiency. Many experts have documented the fact that most 
textbooks do not devote a sufficient amount of space to exploring the 
Constitution and the ideas and personalities which shaped it. Even the 
national history standards proposed a few years ago failed to address 
adequately the importance of this document. The Constitution, along 
with the Declaration of Independence, is the very foundation upon which 
our nation is built. To not devote sufficient space in textbooks or 
time in class to it is a tragedy not only for students but also for the 
nation.
  It's also troubling to note that when constitutional history is 
discussed today, the Founding Fathers are portrayed as racist, sexist 
elitists. This caricature of the Founders, which fails to take into 
account how the Constitutional Convention tried to balance the idealism 
of the Declaration of Independence with the political realities of the 
day, is only abetted by the shallowness of the constitutional teaching 
in our schools. How can students weigh the competing claims in this 
important debate when they don't even know what is in the Constitution?
  How should this deficiency be addressed? I'm not here to suggest 
another federal program which would impose standards on the state and 
local school districts. I have long believed that curriculum is best 
determined by local school boards which are much closer to the people 
than we are here in Washington, D.C. Instead, I am today using this opportunity in the United States Senate to urge my colleagues to
support states, school districts, and teachers beginning a wholesale
effort to renew in our youth a respect and knowledge for the
Constitution. Our young people need to know the rights guaranteed by
this seminal document. As Thomas Jefferson said, our liberties may
depend on it.

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