Tag: Constitution

Refugees, Politics and And Civics (Not as Boring as It Sounds)

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This post was supposed to be about the budget cuts that have allegedly wiped out Civics education, supposed to wonder how Americans could know their rights – and those of others – if they’d never even been given baseline knowledge.

Here’s what I was going to say:

American schools used to require a class called “civics.”  Every kid learned about elections and government and bicameral legislatures and the Constitution.  Separation of powers.  Federalism.  States rights.  And the Constitution.  The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…) and — wait for it — the Constitution.

Education has always been, at its best, a tool to advance a civil society.  And Civics made it work.  We all thought it was dumb and boring and they gave us a terrible teacher who couldn’t be fired but we did learn the basics – enough to know, for example, that you can’t set religious limits on immigration or anything else in the United States of America!

OK all that’s true.  BUT it turns out that we DO have Civics education, just not much. It just doesn’t work. According to US News and World Report:

At present, more than 90 percent of U.S. high school grads get a semester in civics and at least a year of U.S. history. But something is clearly not sticking. A Xavier University study showed that while 97.5 percent of those applying for citizenship pass the test, only two out of three Americans can do the same.

The test they’re talking about is the 100 question exam immigrants to the US have to pass to become US citizens.  Their passing rate is 97.5%  Among the rest of us, it’s only 66%!  Since basic citizenship knowledge is what sustains our social contract, losing 1/3 of our citizens is kind of awful.  Here’s more from US News:

It’s hard to overstate just how poor is the average American student’s grasp of civics and history — or how badly we need to breathe life into civics in our schools. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress showed about one-third of American eighth-graders scored at or about proficiency in reading, math and science. But those are robust numbers compared to civics and history, where 22 percent scored at that level. But we needn’t worry about those embarrassing scores any more. In 2013, the National Assessment of Education Progress, perhaps believing ignorance is bliss, announced that the civics and history tests, historically given in the fourth, eighth and 12th grades, would only be administered from now on in the 8th grade.

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In 2009, Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics to promote the need for better Civics training.  There are other groups too.  But we sure aren’t making any progress.  Todays immigration battle demonstrates the level of ignorance of, and reluctance to learn the basic tenets of a democratic government; it’s deeply troubling.

Try to watch the current “dangerous refugee and besides they’re Muslim” battle going on now and disagree!

AMERICAN ME

Ticket_2_1 Yesterday I went to appeal a parking ticket.  I had not received my tags from the DC government and was ticketed because they were out of date.  The DC police are notorious for ticketing marginal cases – I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten tickets at broken meters or tree-concealed No Parking signs.  I work for myself so it costs me money when I go to appeal ; usually I just pay.  THIS however was a $100 ticket so there was no alternative.

I was pretty sure they would blow me off.  I had an Internet receipt indicating timely payment of the fees but was afraid that wouldn’t matter — after all the adjudicating official probably makes a third of what I make even consulting and I’ve experienced class-like responses in the past.  But Ms. Cindy and her snotty preconceptions were foiled, quite wonderfully.

At the desk in the hearing room was Mr. Carter, an African American gentleman with half-glasses, beard, white shirt, tie and a jacket and beret on the coat hook.  There were about ten of us sitting around the edges of the small room, in the center of which was a table perpendicular to Mr. Carter’s desk.  On his desk: a computer, our pile of appeal documents and a printer.  One by one he called us to the chair at the far end of the table.  One by one we told our stories.  "Guilty with an explanation — the tree hid the no parking sign — I am a transit cop and even though I showed my badge they ticketed me — I drive a construction truck and the lane was marked "construction vehicles only" so the no parking sign did not apply — etc."  Each time Mr. Carter read and re-read the ticket – reading the information aloud — then asked for corroborating evidence.  Most of us had documents or photos proving our case.  One by one he dismissed the tickets – ONE of which he didn’t even rule on because the dates were wrong and therefore the "ticket is defective."  Then he called me.

As I sat down he took off his glasses and wiped them on his tie.  No good.  Held them up to the light.  Rolled his chair over to a file cabinet, opened a drawer, opened a zipper case in that drawer, pulled out some eyeglass cleaner, cleaned his glasses, put the cleaner back in the case, put the case back in the drawer, shut the drawer and rolled back to his desk.  I though "Oh boy – he’s feeling orderly – he’s going to tell me it’s my fault and I should have gone to pick them up if they hadn’t mailed them in time."  He asked for my plea.  "Guilty with an explanation."  He asked for the explanation – that the tags never arrived.  He asked for my evidence.  I walked over and gave him the receipt from the date of online payment – well before expiration date.

He read everything carefully — went into his computer.  "Damn," I thought, "he’s going to see all those photo speeding (2-5 miles over the limit – for the record) tickets and damn me to ticket hell."  Nope.

He looked up.  "You did what you were supposed to do.  We’re not going to punish you because the government didn’t do what IT was supposed to do. Ticket dismissed."  He signed the release and handed it to me.  That was it.  Done.

Bill_of_rights NOW.  I’m not telling this story because this examiner was so perceptive about my sweet law-abiding self.  I sat there during the entire proceeding – with people of varying degrees of education, articulateness, race, dressed-upness and other differences  — all free to appeal the actions of their government.  For some reason this small proceeding reminded me in a very tangible way what I love about this country even in the midst of its terrible mistakes and what I see as a wrong-headed and disastrous domestic direction:  The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. [The end of the First Amendment.]  Whatever has (in my view) been violated in the past six years, we have that right and most of us take it for granted.  For today anyway – thanks to Mr. Carter and the DC Department of Motor Vehicles – that "most of us" does not include me.