Most American schools once provided students classes in the subject of “civics,” which included the country’s foundational documents, especially the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution; patriotic citizen’s rights and responsibilities, such as voting and jury duty; and American values and heroes, including pioneers and inventors.
Do civics classes sound antique, maybe relevant as a big old phone book (assuming you recall big old phone books)? Since civics classes are virtually gone now, could you guess in which decade they quickly disappeared?
OK, too easy. Everyone guessed the 1960s, right?
The public chaos and criminality so popular now might seem general, but it has two major sources.