Tea at Trianon: Civic Irresponsibility

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Civic Irresponsibility

From American Greatness:

Recently, the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, released annually to celebrate Constitution Day (Sept. 17), finds that in 2023, 66% of Americans could name all three branches of government, 10% named just two, 7% knew only one, and 17% couldn’t name any. Additionally, when respondents were asked to name the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, 77% named freedom of speech, but just 40% knew that freedom of religion is included, 33% named the right to assembly, 28% knew freedom of the press, and a paltry 9% mentioned the right to petition the government.

The U.S. Dept. of Education certainly is of no help on this matter. Many public schools are being manipulated and infiltrated by state-sponsored non-government organizations that are spreading radical social justice-style activism under the guise of civics. Parent rights activist Tamra Farah reports, “The pack leader is Educating for American Democracy (EAD), which conveniently slipped into schools nationwide in 2021, masquerading as civics. It is routinely introduced to state boards of education as a framework to inform state standards, forcing all lessons and textbooks to conform to its outline for curricula.” EAD urges teachers “to affirm diverse identities and provide inclusive instruction and examples.” This is clearly a nod to the progressive agenda of BLM, CRT, and DEI.

A relentless advocate for civics instruction in American classrooms is Robert Pondiscio, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He points out that a U.S. Citizenship Test has been in place since 1986. The exam consists of 100 questions about American history, our system of government, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Pondiscio explains, “Immigration officials administer the test orally, asking would-be citizens seeking naturalization 10 of the 100 questions; they must answer at least six correctly to pass. The questions aren’t particularly difficult. They consist of things like naming any one of the three branches of government, how many U.S. senators there are, and naming a right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. Rock-bottom, basic stuff.”

Interestingly, while 96% of immigrants seeking naturalization pass the test, a 2018 survey revealed that just 13% of Americans at large knew when the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Amazingly, a majority couldn’t say which countries the U.S. fought in World War II, and only one in four could say why American colonists fought a war against Great Britain. Importantly, older Americans did better, with 74% answering at least six in 10 questions correctly. Pondiscio notes, “But among those under the age of 45, only one in five passes, which says a lot about the state of civics in U.S. schools, whose founding purpose once upon a time was to prepare the citizenry for self-government.”

Today, civic education is more important than ever because of the impact social media has on us. Memes can go viral in a matter of seconds, while the time-honored tradition of slogging through books to become learned has become passé. And clearly, it is not only K-12 that is failing our students. So much of the problem belongs with our colleges, and can be seen when comparing Democratic and Republican voter registration among faculty by academic discipline. In his 2016 study, Brooklyn College professor Mitchell Langbert found that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans at 40 leading U.S. universities was 4.5:1 in economics, 8.6:1 in law, and 33.5:1 in history. His 2018 study, with a different sample, found that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans was 5.5:1 in economics, 8.2:1 in political science, and 17.4:1 in history. While it is certainly not incumbent upon professors to put their personal politics on the table, all too often these days, they do, which results in indoctrinated students.

The recent Hamas-induced atrocities perpetrated on Israel provide an instructive point about our colleges. Immediately after Jewish women were abducted, raped, and murdered and their children brutalized and killed, countless college students and professors across the country cheered. At Harvard, 34 student groups pledged their support to Hamas. At UCLA, right after the onset of the invasion, professors gave extra credit for attending a “teach-in” pushing anti-Israel propaganda. In New York, the president of NYU’s Student Bar Association wrote that “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life.” (Read more.)