Dear Governor Ducey,
Congratulations on the passage of your first legislation requiring all Arizona high school students to take and pass a civics exam. It is an important step for the state to be recognized as the most civic literate place in the country.
However, I am afraid that you have set the bar far too low for envy. A 60 percent passing score is barely a “D.” We need to sit atop the country’s civic flagpole, not claim a half-mast position. In order to attain these heights, we need changes to the legislation so Arizonans can beam with civic pride from sea to shining sea:
• Immediately raise the passing score to 70 percent for all high school students. Can’t we expect a “C” from our future leaders?
• Immediately require all state employees to take the test and score 80 percent. Arizonans want the cream of the civic crop working for the state. Our hard earned tax dollars should not go to civic nincompoops. If state employees can’t pass the test in two tries, then they need to work for other states. And once you lift the hiring freeze, new employees must pass the test as well.
• It is terribly important that all political appointees and Legislative, Executive, and Judicial staff set a good example and score 85 percent on the test. These are the people who help the people who make the decisions for the people, and they need to be the best of the best civic citizens. If they can’t pass in two tries, then let them work in the private sector.
• Finally, our elected officials need to pass the test at the 90 percent level. Before any local, city, county, state or federal candidate files to run for election, they must present a state issued “Proof of Passing” the civics exam. Those who wish to represent the electorate get only one chance and if they fail to meet the standard, well, they can study until the next election cycle.
By immediately implementing these steps Arizona will be the envy of every state in the union. It will have the country’s most civically minded elected officials, staff, employees and high school students. Arizona will be respected for its civic literacy, civic richness and civic intelligence. I hope to see these changes in future legislation, Governor Ducey, and good luck on your test.
Mike Mayer has been a long-time educator with TUSD and the UA. He is currently working on special projects with the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning and other writing projects.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.
You want our elected officials to pass at 90% level?? Good luck with that! I went to school in the Phoenix area for 4th through 12th grade, with one year out while I lived and went to school in Orem, Utah. I felt like I had a pretty decent education and could have passed that citizenship test without difficulty when I graduated from high school. In fact I could have almost or passed that test when I graduated from grade school, because history, civics, and how the government worked was incorporated into our classroom education in geography, history & current affairs. This was in the ’62 graduation from grade school & ’66 graduation from high school era.
So, what happened? Please don’t blame it on “rote memorization for tests” because that hasn’t been the case. So how is it possible that our students don’t routinely learn how our government works, both federal & state, during their classroom experience over the years of their grade school/high school experience? Does that particular piece of education need to be highlighted in some way that doesn’t happen now. Does “civics” need to be included in the grade school/high school experience as a formally titled class or as a component of a required history class? Do we need to pink highlight “hey you, this is how our government works, now learn it and remember it for the test?” Bottom line, is this info being taught & tested on within current classes throughout the state? Does this information simply need to be incorporated into a daily classroom session of “current events” information that the students are responsbile to report on? Current Events and the “Weekly Reader” were favorites of mine….and I’m a news junkie now. Thinking outloud here.
So Mike, did you put this “intelligent” work together while enjoying a mesquite bean infused craft beer downtown or on the “Avenue” in some place where “intelligent” people hang out? Or, did you put it together on the clock at TUSD or The UA where you are working on a “Special Project”? You “Longtime Educator” You!
Our current president TAUGHT the USC but seems not to understand it himself. These are not bad ideas. We have become an ignorant populace led by opportunistic ignorance.
How did Rome fall?
I took one of the online “sample” tests just to see where I scored. I was ashamed that I only got 96% correct. I attribute that to it being 45 years since I took the last of the REQUIRED civics classes. Point being, back in the pre-1970 dark ages, everyone took classes is civics, government, etc, to learn how the American way of government works. Over the last 4 decades, schools have drifted away from those basic courses, and you can see some of the results right here in Tucson. Governor Ducey has the right idea, teach the students how we got to where we are, and how to succeed in the future.
Would a modern civics test include questions about:
1. dark money
2. how a lobbyist creates a law
3. how a few corporations or monied elite can get their stooge elected?
We really need to be thinking “recall”
NJVO:
This is at least PART of the point. I’m not sure I know what ‘Dark Money’ is. But I’m pretty sure it’s NOT GOOD for the rest of us! Lobbyists are NOT SUPPOSED to CREATE LAW. And the ‘monied elite’ are not supposed to be able to get ‘their stooge’ elected.
If we have enough people in the Hallowed Halls who KNOW the limitations placed on government, they just MIGHT go along with them. And if THE PEOPLE OUT HERE ALSO KNOW, there is a possibility we could recover our Country from the illegals, the Islamists, and the corrupt politicians. We MUST teach the Constitution. And NOT the one with the little ‘footnotes’ about things like ‘direct taxation is oermitted now throughthe 16th amendment’, and the 17th having fixed some non-existent ‘flaw’, and how LOTS of stuff under the 14th changes everything.
I want my Coutnry back, and this is a place to start!
The new definition of dark money is anything spent in opposition to YOUR favorite party. It has little to do with reality or outcome of elections.
Mike, why use a dog whistle approach to your requirements? At least have the fortitude to say what you mean – that you only want white people working for the state. It has been proven these “achievement” tests are worded for and geared mainly to restrict members of minority populations from education and the general workforce. Why don’t you instead work to get all school districts and schools on a level playing field by providing funds and materials equally throughout the state?
One solution is the Boy Scouts, having 3 citizenship merit badges, my son, an Eagle Scout, got a 100% on the citizenship quiz of 100 questions at his high school which gave the test. So rather than stressing over passing the test, have your sons join Boy Scouts,
This civics law smacks of the Jim Crow Jelly Bean Test, am sure those who liked that law will love this one to! I see the same party who adopted all them angry Dixiecrats back in 1960’s are behind this law so no surprise to me!
You want adults to take the same test high school students take? That is outrageously stupid. A person’s ability to do their job is not measured by silly exams. This article lacks a basic measure of intelligence I would expect from somone that calls themselves a writer.
Stephanie needs to learn about irony.
Most women can do more than just iron. I bet she already knows how.