COLUMBIA, S.C. ― Three former South Carolina governors are pushing for high school students to take the same test that immigrants must pass to become a U.S. citizen.
Former Gov. Dick Riley said civics education must become a higher priority, calling it critical for the country’s future that teenagers gain a basic knowledge of American civics. The citizenship test is a practical way of stressing its importance, said Riley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s U.S. education secretary after his second term ended in 1987.
“This is not a partisan issue. It is an American issue,” Riley said.
He helped launch the “South Carolina Civics Education Initiative” on Wednesday, the 227th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Other co-chairmen of the effort include former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges (1999-2003) and former Gov. James Edwards, who in 1975 took office as the state’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
They want the Legislature to pass a bill letting high school students boost their final grade point average by passing the test. The details have yet to be worked out, and the backers don’t yet have a legislative sponsor to introduce the measure for the session that starts in January.
But the idea is to encourage students to learn the basics of America’s founding and how government works so they become engaged, voting citizens.
