Civics Knowledge

* Your Nov. 28 editorial laments the lack of knowledge by high school students of our constitutional government and then continues the blaming of American schools. Is anyone discussing personal and parental responsibility?

When I was a child my parents took me to the polling places with them. I asked questions about the functions of our government. I was taken to city council meetings and our state capital. When I thought there was a way our government could do better, I was told to “write a letter.” The students of my seventh-grade class needed a library in our town, so we petitioned and got our library.

Stop only blaming the schools and start emphasizing where learning also comes from, self-initiative and personal responsibility. It is way too easy to complain and never do anything about what you need. No amount of teaching will help students who do not care and whose parents don’t either.

KERRY A. KOERBLING

Hollywood