Shouldn’t Every Day Be Constitution Day?

A middle school teacher, understandably unnerved by student’s alternate admiration for, and previous unfamiliarity with the U. S. Constitution, posted an Education Post to vent. “Every public school that receives federal funds is required to teach about the Constitution once a year,” Michelle Pearson writes. “We did these lessons as part of our studies for Constitution Day.”

“But the lack of prior knowledge this student described is a reality that springs from the marginalization of social studies. Research shows the testing era had a laser-like focus on language arts and math, with less time devoted to social studies or civics education. Many argue that social studies content is easily woven into literacy units. They cite national standards suggesting that instruction in the use of nonfiction and informational text means that social studies will be present in the classroom. Others suggest that social studies will at least be embedded in interdisciplinary instruction because it is a core content area.”

One, why should the study of the U. S. Constitution be relegated to once a year? Two, shouldn’t it be part of the Common Core of any curriculum?

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