The push continues to require high school students to pass a civics exam to graduate. Lawmakers in Iowa are the latest to jump on the bandwagon.
The Texas House passed a similar measure last session which would have eliminated the United States history end-of-course assessment instrument. State Rep. Dan Huberty was among those pushing for it.
“Structure of government, when the Constitution was signed and the founding of our country,” he says. “People that are coming from other countries that have to study to be a citizen, those are the questions we're asking our students who come out of the public schools system.”
“That was the premise of discussion and testimony that we heard from parents who asking their kids how many members of Congress or how many senators are there? And they didn't know. So maybe this is the type of material we have to be asking.”
The measure ultimately died in the Texas Senate, but Huberty is confident it has bipartisan support.
“It was a little late in the session when the bill got over there, so it probably ended up being more of a time issue,” he says. “We're going to be studying it again during the interim and hopefully this is something we can come together on next session.”
A recent survey revealed just one-quarter of Americans are able to name all three branches of government.