If this weren’t so pathetic, it would be funny.
Did he point his finger at the President who encouraged an insurrection on January 6, 2021?
No.
Did he blame the loser of the 2020 election who spent four years claiming that the election was rigged and that he didn’t lose?
No.
Did he blame the political party that spent four years asserting not only that the election of 2020 was rigged but that the rightful winner was “crooked” and every member of his family was part of a “crime family”?
No.
Did he blame the President who has openly ignored federal court orders?
No.
Did he blame the President who proposes to abolish due process of law even though it is written into the Constitution?
No.
Did he blame the President who said publicly that he didn’t know whether he is required to support the Constitution?
No.
Chief Justice Roberts is right to be concerned about the shrinkage of civics education, but he is wrong to ignore the reason for that shrinkage: No Child Left Behind made test scores the central goal of education, which diminished everything in the curriculum other than reading and math.
Because so many young people have not received civics education, they are likely to be misled by a charlatan whose actions model contempt for the rule of law and the Constitutuon.
And, worse, it was the Roberts Court that proclaimed that the President while carrying out his duties has absolute immunity and is above the law.
The Supreme Court, in short, overturned the deep-seated principle taught in civics classes that “no man is above the law.”
Mr. Chief Justice, if you want to know who encouraged disrespect for the rule of law, look in the mirror.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hi Diane: Because I have been claiming the loss of civics education in K-12 education for years here and elsewhere, I was a little dismayed at this note . . . until I got to this:
“Chief Justice Roberts is right to be concerned about the shrinkage of civics education, but he is wrong to ignore the reason for that shrinkage: No Child Left Behind made test scores the central goal of education, which diminished everything in the curriculum other than reading and math. . . . Because so many young people have not received civics education, they are likely to be misled by a charlatan whose actions model contempt for the rule of law and the Constitution.”
What’s the next step, however–probably to blame teachers, those pesky unions and, mostly, PUBLIC EDUCATION? Can you get on 60 Minutes to head off that kind of blarmy? It’s bound to come up, knowing the Republican playbook. CBK
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ADDENDUM: About the loss of civics in education . . . . There is also the more egregious movement of GOP PRIVATIZATION with the motivations of racism, the redirection of public funds, preparing the capitalized, transactional mind, and over-control of the curriculum that have been around for decades. CBK
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“Did he blame the political party that spent four years asserting not only that the election of 2020 was rigged but that the rightful winner was “crooked” and every member of his family was part of a “crime family”?”
OMG, the hypocrisy is stunning. Substitute 2016 and word-for-word that would be the Democratic Party.
In any case, what’s caused the lack of respect for “rule of law” is that we don’t have rule of law. We have rule by the powerful (the rich, the corporations, the politicians, the police and other law enforcement agencies, etc.) who can do what they want up to and including mass murder while poor people, people of color and people with disabilities get arrested, beaten, tased, caged and even killed for things like traffic violations, selling loose cigarettes and other minor or made up “crimes”.
Not that you ever take my suggestions, but Alec Karakatsanis’s COPAGANDA is a must-read. When you understand what “law enforcement” in this country really is, you understand why people have no respect for it.
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You never pass up an opportunity to bash the Democrats.
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Because, as I’ve said, the coverage on this blog is sickeningly one-sided and partisan. Maybe if you’d wake up to the fact that Democrats are not the answer (in fact, they lead to the problem), I wouldn’t have to do it so much.
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Dienne,
You are not required to read this blog. If you find it offensive, go elsewhere.
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We have rule by the powerful (the rich, the corporations, the politicians, the police and other law enforcement agencies, etc.) who can do what they want up to and including mass murder while poor people, people of color and people with disabilities get arrested, beaten, tased, caged and even killed for things like traffic violations, selling loose cigarettes and other minor or made up “crimes”.
One slight emendation: We barely have anything left worthy of being called law. Not law as it was understood, for example, by the Iroquois or the Lakota.
Case in point: The Republican House just passed a tax bill that cuts 1.5 trillion dollars from SNAP and Medicaid over the next ten years in order to pay for a 1.5-trillion-dollar tax break for people making $450,00 a year and over.
I have sadly forgotten the name of the wonderful woman who originated this statement, but I agree with her 100 percent: “The truth is, I don’t want a president. I want a council of indigenous grandmothers.”
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You really gotta love one of the Chief Engineers of the Downfall of American Democracy blaming kids today for not learning enough civics
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Thank you. Yes, the hypocrisy is appalling.
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Truth!
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Standard operating procedure for Roberts. Whose modus operandi has been to take two steps forward with his revolting right wing agenda followed by one step back. Allowing the press to call him a moderate. He is every bit as despicable as the rest of the Fascist , Seditionist party .
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Diane, Justice Roberts is, of course, delusional. The problem is systemic and stems from our political-economic priorities. As you know, in your and my lifetime, the only president to emphasize real civics education was JFK. (LBJ rightfully took on equity.) Jimmy Carter would likely have re-taken up civics in a second term. Since Reagan, however, every president has succumbed to the neoliberal mis-education agenda, with the backing of both parties in both houses. Clinton and Obama were as bad as the Bushes. Biden was the first pro-labor president in my lifetime, but it didn’t extend to education.
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David, well said.
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Agree
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I think a civics requirement for Supreme Court justices might be in order
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Hi Roy and Joel: I think many in SCOTUS (not all) are just extremely out of touch. It’s just one of the problems associated with a specialist-professionalist culture, especially the size of our own.
I remember watching Roberts in an interview on C-SPAN’s BookTV several years ago–I thought the same thing then–that guy is brilliant, but severely out of touch–cannot remember the context, but I do remember thinking that about Roberts.
In my cockeyed optimism, however, I serious hope he is not complicit in tearing down the rule of law and the democracy which I guess is the only other alternative. CBK
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I serious hope he is not complicit in tearing down the rule of law and the democracy
Exactly what the Roberts court has been doing. Enabling the dismantling of the law and of Democracy
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Nailed it, Roy!
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Did he blame the police departments who seem to be training their officers for brutality and then shielding them when they exhibit it? I used to think most police officers were good people trying to do a difficult job. I don’t think that any more. I think they are selecting candidates with traits we don’t like and then training them up to be instruments of the autocrats.
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There’s a word for this, now what is it? Oh yes: Fatuous.
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If there’s a “lack of civics education,” look no further than Wharton (Trump), Yale (JV Dance, Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavenaugh), Notre Dame (Justice Barrett), and Harvard (Justice Gorsuch).
You’d think at least one of those august universities, particularly their law schools, would cover civics, the rule of law, Constitutional rights, due process, separation of powers, and such.
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Exactly so
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Roberts and his conservative colleagues should do some self-reflection on the lack of respect for the law. Their 6-3 decision on July 1st last year along party lines essentially enabled Trump’s lawless behavior. They ruled that former presidents cannot face criminal liability for their official acts. They essentially handed Trump a “get out of jail free card” when he breaks the law. Trump is so emboldened he flaunts his corruption with every new crooked scheme.
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Exactly
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i am SO sick of everything being the responsibility of schools
in Utah, every idea is somehow for public schools to teach: drug awareness, STDs, mental illness, suicide prevention, anti-trafficking, gun safety, social emotional learning, basic respect, etc. etc.
YES, schools should help. But schools should NOT be the go-to for every societal problem where no one else needs to address it
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The most recent full report on the state of Civics education in K-12 in the U.S. that I am aware of:
020618_CivicsEducation-UPDATED.pdf
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All 50 states have some civics education requirement. Most commonly, a one semester class, but see the comment below.
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I have worked on a number of civics and government textbook programs. Here’s the REAL issue:
Because Civics touches upon a lot of extremely controversial issues, and because teachers and, especially, administrators want to avoid issues with parents and outside interest groups, and because government adoption agencies at the state and district level also want to avoid controversy, there is enormous pressure on curriculum designers in this area to make their materials dry as dust. The texts and the curriculum become lists of dates and legislation and court decisions and info presented in the form of charts, and there is very, very little there to capture the attention of a 7th or 8th grader or a high-school sophomore, junior, or senior (the levels at which civics and government are typically taught, usually in a half-semester class). There’s a ton of material to cover in very little time, and the texts and curriculum lack material that will capture kids’ imaginations. Imagine replacing an anthology of short stories with a long, long list of plot outlines.
The Civics and Government problem in the U.S. will not be solved until the kids and see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it.
And an outside civics activity requirement for graduation will come as close to solving this problem as taking aspirin will cure colon cancer.
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No controversy, no struggle, no novel. No controversy, no struggle, no movie.
The ONLY way the Civics and Government instruction in K-12 will be fixed is by ending the draining of the blood from the curriculum and then giving the kids the desiccated corpse.
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The ONLY way the Civics and Government instruction in K-12 will be fixed is by a) ending the draining of the blood from the curriculum and b) not then giving the kids the desiccated corpse.
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If you want Civics and Government instruction that will do the mental equivalent of sticking to the ribs, YOU HAVE TO GET THE KIDS FIRED UP ABOUT SOMETHING, fired up enough TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
There lies the rub, my friends. There lies the rub.
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And yes, our Civics and Government instruction in K-12 is a dismal failure. Abysmal. Just give a random group of American adult products of our system a Civics test to see just how failed it is.
Same is true of our mathematics instruction. After 12 or 13 years of supposed math instruction in the U.S., most of the adults who emerge from it are functionally innumerate.
This should make people think, “Gee, perhaps we are doing something completely wrong here.” DUH.
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Just give a random group of American adult products of our system a Civics test to see just how failed it is.
OR have a talk with a member of the half of the American voting population that chose for President a guy who summarizes the Declaration of Independence as “a document about love and respect” and lauds the great Continental Army, which “captured the British airports” and still goes around saying that the tariffs we impose are paid by the countries whose goods we impose them on.
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Those adults ALL took a Civics or Government class. Remember that all 50 states have a requirement for such a class.
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It’s astonishing how many people pontificate about the state of civics instruction in the U.S. and offer up “solutions” without knowing a damned thing about what is actually taught and when and in what forms. Ignorance and arrogance are a toxic cocktail.
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States mandate a long list of “topics” that “must be covered” in the typically one-semester Civics or Government class. So, teachers have to rush through this stuff.
And that outline is dry as dust if simply touched upon. It’s sort of like saying, “Oh, yes, I have been to Athens” because you had a layover for half an hour there before your connecting flight.
And the textbook has to cover all that, and the PRIME DIRECTIVE of the textbook company is, “Don’t include anything that might disturb anyone ever.”
But guess what? Governments get formed because people get disturbed–very, very disturbed. And unless you can feel what they felt in your gut, well, you’re not going to give a microbe on a hair on a rat’s tushy about it.
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A Culture is a group of people with common tools (thus we speak of the Clovis or Kurgan peoples), tools that are useful (both practically and aesthetically, for there is that in us, ones so useful, in fact, that they come to think of them as necessary), that they create and make and use, and teach the next generation to make and use. Big “C” Civilization is any hydrophilic Culture dependent upon irrigation of large-scale monocrops, with all the attendant necessarily hierarchical organization (command and control). A State (in the Poly Sci sense, of which the feudal state and the nation state are subsets) is a Civilization with a government that exists by virtue of its ability to exercise violence in many forms–taxation and a penal system and war being examples). This ability is a sine qua non and thus a necessary condition of the existence a State.
All this is visceral stuff–it involves basic needs–eating and safety and resource extraction, for example. But there are other human needs as well. Flourishing requires liberty, including the time necessary to commune with others and to create. And it requires love.
A real government curriculum would address all this. Hey, guys, lets go build an iron-age dwelling and plant crops and make clothing and come up with some rules to make all this work.
You think I’m kidding, perhaps. I’m not.
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All this is visceral stuff–it involves basic needs–eating and safety and resource extraction, for example. But there are other human needs as well. Flourishing requires health and liberty, including the time necessary to commune with others and to create. And it requires love.
Fleshing out why so many States didn’t really work for most people because it didn’t do these things–now there’s a subject for Government class.
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A story. I know, I tell too many. My cousin is about to be a senior in college. A bright child, she will graduate after only three years there because most of her basic requirements were met (with high honors) in college classes she took in high school, most usually through dual enrollment classes. She is among the best and the brightest. She could, I would bet, be unable to tell you the most basic facts about separation of powers as described in the constitution.
This is what makes people civically illiterate: we try to save tax dollars by rushing them through school, preparing them for careers as workers and ignoring the shared career of all—that of citizen.
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Roy,
I love your stories. Jesus taught in stories and parables.
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Agreed, Roy.
Catching up with this story and the comments.
Yeah, I lived this thing called civics education.
And, watching this nightmare happening in the U.S. is like having glass shards blown into my eyes.
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John O.,
So right! Our democracy is being taken apart, piece by piece.
Republicans watch silently.
Trump’s cabinets of sycophants are the richest cabinet in history–worth more than $400 billion.
And working-class people are entranced with promises, shiny objects, and the thrill of “owning the libs.”
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Amen
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Sorry about going on and on. Some stuff that percolates in my head when I think on this subject.
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Anyone who thinks that Civics can be taught in a single semester or half-semester course hasn’t thought at all deeply or clearly about the subject. The Standard Elementary School Civics curriculum–the family, the neighborhood, the community, and so on, building outward, is on the right track.
Now here’s the scary thing, folks. Civics education in Fascist states is frightfully successful in achieving its ends because it does fire kids up. But it does so in all the wrong ways, ofc.
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You want Civics to stick, you have to create a fire in the belly, folks.
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Whether it’s called civics or government, there is nothing more important to learn if we want to live in a democracy.
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Agreed
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I taught Social Studies during the NCLB era. The administration was focused on English and Math, which allowed me to be a little creative. A lesson on Freedom of Speech ended in students making their own bumper stickers. When we had a cold day and the heat was off, we wore our coats and did a little “protest”.
I don’t know if it’s possible to do things like that today, but teachers need the freedom to try other ways to engage their students.
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