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• Saturday, July 12, 2008 11:05 AM

  This difficult question

  Explain three ways in which the power of the President can be checked by the legislative or the judicial branch.
  
  9,100 grade 12 students in 590 schools were assessed for The Nation's Report Card, Civics 2006.

  Student responses were rated according to a four-point scale as “Complete,” “Acceptable,” “Partial,” or “Unacceptable.”
  
  Overall, 5 percent of students were rated as having a “Complete” response, and the “Complete” plus “Acceptable” rating categories summed to 16 percent for this difficult question (data not shown). When only students at the Proficient level are considered, 13 percent were rated as “Complete.”
  
  http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007476

  The following is from the National Standards for Civics and Government for high school. It's the supreme standard, which can't be achieved without having the knowledge and strength provided by all the others.

  C. What are the responsibilities of citizens?
  
  The purposes of American constitutional democracy are furthered by citizens who continuously reexamine the basic principles of the Constitution and monitor the performance of political leaders and government agencies to insure their fidelity to constitutional values and principles. In addition, they must examine their own behavior and fidelity to these values and principles.
  
  

  http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=912toc

  What are our leaders, who lack this fidelity, teaching our children?

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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