PENSACOLA — State higher education officials on Wednesday afternoon debated whether public university students should be required to learn about U.S. history, government and politics, as some members lamented what they saw as a disheartening lack of civic understanding among young adults.
The day after Florida’s presidential primary, Alan Levine, a member of the State University System board of governors, recited a series of statistics meant to demonstrate how little 18- to 34-year-old Americans know about their country’s history and how its government functions.
For example, Levine cited studies that found millennials like socialism and others that show they don’t know what it means. He pointed to a poll that found the majority of young people couldn’t name the senators representing their home states and another that found some believe Judge Judy is on the U.S. Supreme Court.
