sign in sign up
<<
Home , Tom Felton

gopopro.com

Critical Analysis

1. What percent of Americans can name all three branches of government? 2. What is the big story this data tells? 3. List the top three causes that explain the results of this survey: 4. What is one political consequence of this level of civic knowledge? 5. Is this low level of civic knowledge good news for Donald Trump or bad news? 6. Hey, smarty pants. Why do we have three branches of government anyway? 7. In Federalist No. 51 (1788), James Madison explains and defends the checks and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ balances system in the Constitution. Each branch of government is framed so that its ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ power checks the power of the other two branches; additionally, each branch of government is dependent on the people, who are the source of legitimate authority. In ​ ​ Fed. 51, Madison calls the people, “the fountain of authority.” If the vast majority of the ​ ​ ​ ​ people can’t even name the three branches of government should they still be the fountain of authority? 8. Do you imagine that Americans were any better at naming the three branches back in the 18th century when George Washington was president? 9. Is it actually important to know the kind of information that you could look up on any smart phone in about 5 seconds? 10. How different do you think the results of this survey will be in 20 years? 11. Who do you think would do better at identifying the three branches of government, (Canadian), the actor who plays (Tom Felton) in the Movies (English), PewDiePie (Swedish), or the average 10th grader (American) at your school? Explain your answer. 12. Any foreign born American who wants to become a citizen has to pass a citizenship test where they must answer this kind of question. Do you think that this kind of questions should be required for citizenship? 13. Claim: in order to vote any American citizen should have to prove that they can name the ​ three branches of government and answer other important questions about the U.S. Government. Respond to this claim. ​ 14. List one consequence of requiring a citizenship style test before people are allowed to vote.

Learning Extension

Read the Annenberg Public Policy report on this survey and weep. ​ ​ ​

Action Extension

1-Take a mini-practice citizenship test online and share your results in class or online. ​ ​ ​

gopopro.com