Beth Henary, editorial assistant

MANY AMERICANS are wearing or waving the flag now. Patriotism is in, and those who have long focused on educating Americans about the values behind the flag see an opportunity to make that lapel pin prick not just the heart, but also the mind.

"Post 9/11 patriotism is surface and cosmetic, flag-deep," explained We the People chairman Bob Schulz, who is spearheading an ambitious civic-education initiative. At the National Press Club on Monday, We the People, a non-profit foundation for constitutional education, announced "Operation Enduring Patriotism," a citizens' initiative with the goal of getting all states to pass a law requiring schools to teach every provision in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and their state constitution. Alan Keyes and General Ray Davis, America's most decorated living veteran, kicked off the war on ignorance, and citizens from several states were on hand to offer support.

Schulz stresses he is not trying to berate those who started waving the flag on September 11, but says that states need to take the opportunity to address "civil illiteracy."

"Students today don't have the higher order intellectual skills and civic dispositions needed to connect facts with civic responsibilities," he says. "Explanation and analysis are missing, and civic statements requiring students to defend positions [relating to freedom] are least prevalent in state standards."

Schulz backs up his assertions by citing a 1999 report by Kenneth W. Tolo, then of the University of Texas. Tolo reports that on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 1988, about half of high school seniors did not know that the constitutional power to tax belongs to Congress. Over 60 percent of 8th graders were unaware that Congress made laws. He documents declining youth participation in activities like voting to go along with the perceived lack of fundamental civic knowledge.

"Young Americans . . . have only a vague understanding of their responsibilities as citizens," Tolo wrote.

New York has a statute similar to the one Schulz has proposed. (The key is in specifying that "every provision" in the documents be taught.) But, Schulz claims, the New York statute is never enforced. Despite its stringent language, We the People allies in 39 states had presented the Act for Enduring Patriotism to state legislators as of Monday. Volunteers in the other 11 states had not responded, however, the effort has only been underway for about two weeks.

But We the People is not the first group to note Americans' lack of basic knowledge of civics.

During the last week of September, both primary and secondary students in Texas participated in the inaugural Celebrate Freedom Week, an annual education-oriented celebration established by the state legislature this spring. One week a year, all public school students receive instruction on the intent and meaning of historical documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

The brainchild of State Rep. Rick Green, Celebrate Freedom Week was inspired not by the World Trade Center but by what Green saw as an alarming ignorance about freedom in his fellow Texans. A Scripps Howard poll of the state's adults revealed that half could not name one First Amendment freedom, and only 5 percent could name two.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks, Celebrate Freedom Week could not have been more successful. Students in schools across the state posted founding documents, waved flags proudly, and engaged in discussions about freedom.

Green believes this reactive patriotism will atrophy if leaders and educators do not capitalize on the opportunity to instill in people an appreciation for the foundations of freedom. "A lot of folks are waving the flag probably for the first time in their lives," he said, "but out of fear rather than out of passion for America's principles."

In Arizona last year, the legislature passed a law mandating students in grades 4 - 6 recite a portion of the Declaration of Independence before school each day. The Center for Arizona Policy, a family-values action group that drafted the legislation, complained at the time that students "demonstrate a breathtaking ignorance of our nation's history and purpose." The state also requires school districts to teach the U.S. and Arizona constitutions, Arizona history, and American institutions and ideals, once in grades 1 - 8 and once in grades 9 - 12.

But Janet Martin, education policy director for the center, admitted that compliance varies. "The state is limited in its monitoring abilities," she said.

Both California and Florida have adopted statutes in recent years requiring students to study founding documents, and most other states embed such basics in law and curriculum, if not in practice.

We the People's success in teaching citizens history will depend on the degree to which states enforce standards. Ironically, an important conclusion of the Tolo study, which Bob Schulz uses to highlight the need for increased education, is that teachers often do not know their state's standards or choose to ignore them. In most cases, students would probably be more civic-minded if they were just taught everything in the curriculum.

Operation Enduring Patriotism is a noble gesture, but patriotism will not be cultivated simply by making new rules where less demanding ones are not being followed.


Beth Henary is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.

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