Joanne Florino at Philanthropy Roundtable:

It is clear – and somewhat comforting – that some of the mistrust reported seems to stem from lack of knowledge of our core institutions and how they should operate. Complaints that the Senate is not “democratic” because all 50 states have equal representation regardless of population fall into this category. So do suggestions that Supreme Court opinions should consider the wishes of the majority of Americans. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia this past spring about the lack of education in schools around constitutional matters. Judge Ginsburg noted that schools no longer provide “an education that encompasses the minimum that a citizen should know about how our government works, why it was structured the way it was and what their rights and obligations are.” He then described an online civics course he had launched with education nonprofit izzit.org as well as his interest in making the U.S. citizenship test part of high school graduation requirements.