Appearance on CNN to discuss the decline in knowledge of civics

Sandra Day O'Connor
I'm Sandra Day O'Connor. In my former life, I served as a justice on the United States Supreme Court. I retired from that position after 25 years, about six years ago. And in that the intervening time, I've been trying to accomplish a few of the things that I was not able to do. While I was active as a justice on the Supreme Court, one of the things that I've been able to do since I retired, is start a website called I civics, you know, we have I everything iPads and iPods, and I miss that the other so we have now I civics, and we have a great program. And the reason it's so effective, is because it consists of games that we've put on the internet, anybody without any charge is free, can dial up the website and place series of games, we have 16 online already. And they teach in the process, how some aspect of government works. They're terrific, they're marvelous. And I really aim them at middle school level, but they're good for high school, they're good for even earlier than Middle School. They work very effectively. And now it's my effort to try to expand the number of people who know about it, and who use it. We have Chairman in all 50 states now, whose job it is to acquaint the schools and every state with the availability of this program, I civics. And I'm in San Diego today, to meet with the Boys and Girls Clubs organization. They're having a national meeting of the people who work by with Boys and Girls Clubs, and they reach about 6 million children a year. It's a very big organization. And I want them to know and to use, and they want to know and to use I civics because it's a great activity for young people, the ages that they serve. And that's why I'm here and hoping that it will be even more widely used than it already is. I civics.org. When our country was formed, and we got our Constitution, and the framers did their work. People began to think by about 1820 or so that it was important to teach every generation of young people about this form of government we had adopted, we thought it was wonderful, but every young person need to learn needed to learn about it. We didn't have public schools in those days. So people began to that every state in this new union of ours allow the development of public schools and in fact, support them. That's how we got public schools in this country. And it doesn't get any easier. Just because we're an older country, it becomes ever more important because we have millions of immigrants. We have millions of new children born and growing up in this country every year. And every one of them needs to know how the system works and how they're part of it. Penny schools, you know, they can't do everything. They have only limited hours, a certain number of teachers. What can they do? So some schools have started dropping civics education, some states have started dropping civics education. That's where the problem comes in. Safe, we're no longer teaching it in some states. I would assume if you count the young people in those states, sure it's on the decline. And it certainly will be more noticeable as those young people grow up. every young person needs to learn how our government works at the national level, at the state level, at the local level, and how they can be part of part of it. And so they learn how they can accomplish things themselves.