Yeah, but most of the civics classes are a joke compared to the citizenship test.
The used to have shop or home economics as required classes.
I do agree that it is up to the student to maintain proficiency. I just feel like many of the tests and classes are ridiculously easy, like to the point of being geared to passing people rather than teaching. But I do also acknowledge that I forget about stuff I don't use, like complex fractions and fraction multiplication.
Have you taken the citizenship test? I am an immigrant and my dad had to take it. I was a bit under age requirement but did look over it. One example it doesn't even ask for the 3 branches of government, just name a single one. A lot of the questions are nice like that and will let you give a partial answer. You can see questions here,
The test is longer than many classroom tests but also only needs a 60% to pass. The topics covered are already ones that US government classes cover so new requirements won't help here. You could add a state standardized test for this although still doubtful it would be remembered even a year or two later. I'd also guess it's a toss up on whether current government classes are easier/harder than that.
I get that they standards are pretty low. I remember an article showing that most TX citizens couldn't pass the test. Here is a similar article that shows over a third of US citizens would fail.
My biggest issue is how can we improve the knowledge of the citizens since this sort of knowledge is necessary for a strong democracy? I'm not sure what the best answer would be, but teaching/testing in school seems like a good start. Looking at the format and rigor would be good, especially if it is already supposed to be taught and we are seeing such low retention.
The used to have shop or home economics as required classes.
I do agree that it is up to the student to maintain proficiency. I just feel like many of the tests and classes are ridiculously easy, like to the point of being geared to passing people rather than teaching. But I do also acknowledge that I forget about stuff I don't use, like complex fractions and fraction multiplication.