I found The Velveteen Ocelot's post humorous and refreshingly honest:
I don't know where TVO lives, but 1960s-1970s California required teaching the US Constitution as part of 8th Grade American History, with a pass-it-or-don't-graduate-from-8th-Grade Constitution test. American History was mandatory in High School, and for Seniors US Government was a mandatory single-semester class. How rigorous this all is nowadays, I don't know (and am afraid to find out), but those classes were not "easy A's".
I've long joked about DU-grade Progs having skipped, smoked dope, or done girls or guys instead of paying attention in those classes. It's nice to have some confirmation of my joke/guess.
My skills at cynicism, sarcasm, and hyperbole are routinely exceeded by DU-folk.
We had an excellent teacher in civics and government when I was in high school. Of course it was VERY dry reading for a teenager, but he actually managed to make it fun. We did mock congress, things of that nature in 2 groups.. democrat v/s republican, of course. And he made it funny.
Study of The Constitution was a little bit lacking though, at least in my school. I guess it's become too much of a legal bowl of spaghetti to make it through in one or 2 semesters... I dunno.
Also, being in FFA, we became intimately familiar with parliamentary operations and procedure... which was kindof a nice thing to pickup, even though it was FFA class.
I consider that class, as much as people dig on it, one of the most valuable life classes I had. I can ID soil, soil problems, ID about any tree at a glance via foilage or cut samples, weld, rebuild engines, troubleshoot a diesel fuel inj system... all kinds of stuff. Prob not much use for city folks I suppose, but almost basic survival stuff for your average rural Joe.