EDITORIAL: Civics schooling sorely lacking

Sep. 18—The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania produced a prime example this year in its annual civics survey tied to Constitution Day, today, marking 235 years since the adoption of the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights was added in 1791.

Each year, the Annenberg survey assesses the public's general knowledge about the Constitution and broad constitutional principles, and the results usually aren't pretty.

This year, the survey found that 51% of respondents believe, incorrectly, that the First Amendment requires Facebook to allow all Americans to express themselves freely on the platform.

The First Amendment provides for freedom of the press, which means that the government can't tell publishers what to publish.

And that's not the only First Amendment confusion. Few respondents were able to name the five rights ensured by the First Amendment and 26% could not name any of them.

Of those they identified: freedom of speech, 63%; freedom of religion, 24%; freedom of the press, 20%; the right of assembly, 16%; the right to petition the government, 6%.

Only 47% of respondents could name all three branches of the federal government and 25% could not name one.

The survey also found that 40% of respondents believe incorrectly that immigrants who are in the United States illegally "do not have any rights" under the Constitution.

Multiple courts have applied the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to various policies regarding immigrants, finding, for example, that states may not deny education to undocumented children.

The survey underscores the glaring need for better civics education, the lack of which is fundamental to much of today's political polarization.