Any of the under thirty crowd remember if you took any Civics in School

[Winterblues]

I had a Civics class in eighth grade and Political Science in High School, but I can't believe they still teach it from what I witness about American ideas of civics today.

[endless october]

1. i'm early 30s; they called it "government," but it was pretty watered down.

still, i learned it on my own time, as you have to do with most things in life. if the average American doesn't have the intellectual curiosity to do that, then no amount of civics in school is going to make them any less uninformed.

[90-percent]

2. I graduated HS in 1972

Setauket, LI, New York.

We had "social studies", but no specific civics classes. I think it was long gone in New York state by then.

Frank Zappa contends civics as a subject was eliminated because all society wants to do is make you docile, uncritical consumers. His theory of the "cool person syndrome" is that it's all about luring you into buying trendy crap you don't need, in your efforts to attain "cool person" status.

Also, politicians want the public to have completely no understanding of how their government works or to be involved in any way.

-90% Jimmy

[JuniperLea]

4. Setauket in '72!

That is prime Blue Oyster Cult period and area! But they could have still been The Soft White Underbelly... whatever... too cool you were around that place and time:) You must have more cowbell for sure!

[90-percent]

12. I was too young to appreciate the music of the time

I think I saw soft white underbelly at a dorm party in 1970? My mother worked in Stony Brook admissions and she knew their manager at the time - he was student council president. as soon as they broke as BOC they dumped the poor kid. I have never confirmed that they all lived at a spooky house on bennetts road right next to the LIRR tracks, which was pretty close to my subdivision.

a lot of great music performed at Stony Brook back then - and I missed most of it. didnt go to concerts much until 71 and later. went to a free outdoor concert with jefferson airplane, though. Saw the Allman bros a few times with Duane. that was awesome. Saw my first Zappa/Mothers show Oct 71. been a hardcore zappa fan ever since.

A friend from HS said he ran in to Country Joe and the Fish at Fat Humphrey's hero palace on RT 25A once.

Oh, and whilst I was wilding with friends during Halloween 1972, two limo's full of Grateful Dead were lost looking for Stony Brook. one of my pals threw a stink bomb in their car.

-90% Jimmy

[Kerrytravelers]

3. 33 here and no... never took these.

We take Government, but it is really watered down. I took AP Government, which was far more rigorous. But there were only 8 kids in my class.

[XemaSab]

5. We took government

My government teacher was a deadhead, but I remember the class was pretty basic stuff.

[SoCalNative]

6. US Government

and it was a requirement the last semester of senior year in HS..one of those you had to take and pass or you wouldn't gradate.

[HillbillyBob]

7. Graduate 1980 WV, we had in depth WV history that included some

pretty stiff civics in grade 8 and then US history/civics grades 10/11.
I was also in another school district in Md for 3 years and we had a good grounding in grade 4 stressing MD history and coverage of more general national history which also covered some how both Md and US government worked.
I still love history and do try to keep up with government (and harass those that are not doing the job right at need..that could be 4xfull time job!) There was Political History mixed with all of it since history and politics are pretty mixed it is hard to separate them really, since politics makes or affects history to a large degree. My opinion.

I still read books by David McCulloch etal for hard factual history, and he tells it well.
I also read historical novels, I like the sort of what if.....?

[kelly1mm]

8. Thank NCLB - Civics is not on the test so it is not important. nt

[kelly1mm]

9. Dupe - self delete

[abumbyanyothername]

10. Definitely not under 30

10th grade social studies, we had an unit on the 72 election. My first bad prediction (McGovern in a landslide).

Most of my political education came in Debate, which was an elective.

[exboyfil]

11. The 8th graders used to have a government

class for a semester (they also take a semester of economics in 8th). The class was replaced by the first semester in a two year sequence in American History (since they study the Constitution and founding documents anyway - I believe it was to integrate into the history curriculum). They also have an American Government class in 10th grade (one semester).

I had my American Government class in the summer between 11th and 12th grade (I wanted to free up time in my schedule in Senior year for other courses). One thing I have been amazed is that my daughters' school system has no opportunities for summer school (unless I can convince the powers to be of accepting online classes approved by the state).