Schools aren't teaching the US Constitution?

According to this editorial and the facts contained in it, many high schools aren't teaching US History and/or a Government/Civics class. I took both in high school and don't regret it. Yes, I took world history too and I view them all to be important. Like this writer, I don't understand how we can continue to be strong as a nation if we don't learn what it is we are trying to protect and what the laws actually mean.

The most appalling statistic to me was this on the First Amendment: 36% believed that before publishing, newspapers must first get government approval. What?

What you don't know can hurt you By Nat Hentoff

One day years ago, interviewing the usually cheerful Justice William Brennan in his Supreme Court chambers, I found him troubled. "Liberty," he said, "is a fragile thing. The Framers knew that. How can we bring the words of the Bill of Rights off the page into the lives of students?"

Were he still here, that paladin of individual liberties would have been even more troubled reading the words of retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor on this page: "Public schools have pretty much stopped teaching government, civics and American history. ... I truly don't know how long we can survive as a strong nation if our younger citizens don't understand the nature of our government. ... That is something you have to learn. It just isn't handed down in the genetic pool."

Add Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who is trying to get his American History Achievement Act - to test the degree of knowledge in schools - through Congress. He points out that half the states don't require a course in U.S. government.Full text