Constitution Day

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

Americans often take for granted the freedoms and rights protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Those documents, which form the foundation of American democracy, are often forgotten about after high school government class.

The Washington Post reports that about a decade ago a group of universities in and around the nation’s capital decided to work together to offer a doctorate in constitutional studies. No one, however, has ever earned the degree. There aren’t enough classes offered at all the universities combined to put together the program.

Today there will be discussion in the public schools about the Constitution. Federal law mandates that public schools hold an educational program on every Constitution Day — Sept. 17, the anniversary of the signing of the country’s charter document in 1787.

It seems odd to us that lawmakers had to pass such a law, but studies show that Americans can be blissfully ignorant about the Constitution.

A 2006 poll showed that only a quarter of Americans surveyed could name more than one of the five rights protected by the First Amendment (religion, speech, press, assembly and to petition the government). But more than half of those polled could name at least two members of “The Simpsons,” TV’s premier cartoon family.

Some scholars, however, don’t see the value in mandated Constitution Day education programs.

Charles Haynes, a scholar at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center, acknowledged that most Americans know “appallingly little about how our republic works.

“And many public schools fail to prepare students to be effective, engaged citizens in a democracy,” he said. “But a few lessons about the Constitution will do little to nothing to renew the civic mission of public schools.”

The schools shouldn’t limit their teaching of the Constitution to a single day or a chapter in a book. The Constitution should be taught throughout the school curriculum so students are prepared to become well-informed citizens.