- David Randall is director of research at the National Association of Scholars.
- John Hendrickson is policy director at Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation.
For decades a crisis has existed in schools across the nation. Survey after survey demonstrates that students are not receiving an adequate education in American history, American government, or Western civilization. The decline in civic education and the alarming level of ignorance should be a concern. The Iowa Legislature is working not only to restore but also to strengthen civic education in the K-12 curriculum. The objective is to reorient the social studies curriculum around the appreciation of our nation’s history and ideals of liberty and republican self-government.
The measure under consideration would make several improvements to public K-12 instruction in American history, American government, and Western civilization. These reforms include emphasizing the importance of teaching primary documents in American history, including the founding documents, and requiring a civic literacy exam for both high school and college graduates. Further, this measure would center instruction around the history of America’s ideals, institutions of liberty, and republican self-government. Another important reform would be replacing the current world history instruction with Western civilization.