2/26/2024

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with Thomas Kelly’s latest piece at The Fulcrum, which highlights a new report that finds that, compared with reading and math, social studies is a neglected topic of study. Kelly, the vice president of civics initiatives at the Jack Miller Center, explores the findings of “A Second-Class Subject?”, which “shows that, despite the high importance that middle and high school teachers and administrators attribute to social studies, the subject is simply not a priority when it comes to resources, curricular alignment or professional development.” Going beyond the findings of the report, Kelly writes that social studies is imperative because it offers “essential knowledge” that students need to know: “why our world looks the way that it does, why our society is organized in the way that it is, why we have inherited certain political institutions.” Ultimately, Kelly maintains that students must understand that the “American political tradition belongs to all of us – left, right and center" and that only that tradition can serve as the basis of a solid civics education.

In celebration of Presidents Day, Fox News’s Bret Baier looks at how top historians rank America’s 45 presidents. Unsurprisingly, America’s greatest presidents, Lincoln and Washington, are right at the top of the list, followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was first moved into the top five in 2017. Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith argues, “We can all quibble about somebody we think should be ranked higher or lower,” but he notes the steadiness of the names at the top of the list, saying that the “top four had been consistent throughout the history of the rankings.” Baier concludes by calling all Americans to discuss the qualities that are important to being a good president with friends, family, and children.