Re: Regardless of which side of the fence you are on.
compulsory civics classes in school, which our American chums enjoy
If only. I imagine there are school districts in the US where civics classes are compulsory, but I believe that's relatively rare.
If this report is accurate, only a quarter of 8th-grade students in the US meet the basic proficiency requirement in civics. That's approximately the same as the fraction of Americans overall who can name all three branches of government,1 so the general population isn't doing better than the students (nor vice versa).
As that report notes, increased focus on the basics and "teaching for the test" in schools, thanks to heavy-handed interference like NCLB, is forcing out civics and other "breadth" curricula.
1Animal, vegetable, and criminal.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
