So at what age should Americans be able to name one U.S. Senator? Whatever age you name, I suspect it is unanimous that by the time you graduate from high school you should be able to name at least one. Preferably, students should know all their state's Senators and the Representative from their own area of the state. After all, graduates are generally 18 years old by that time, or soon will be. Along with the right to vote comes a responsibility to learn who you are voting for and what issues are at stake. The things that kids learn today, and the means by which they learn it, certainly have changed significantly even in the last 30 years.
Still, going off to college is meant to continue to prepare young people to be good citizens and to exercise some modicum of intelligence when they exercise the sacred right to vote. Although this video below should scare the dickens out of older viewers, it sadly has become the norm on college campuses. MRC TV's Dan Joseph visited the campus of American University in northwest Washington D.C., recently to ask students the $64,000 Question: Can you name one U.S. Senator? The responses are mind-boggling.
Okay, stop laughing and listen up. The mind-boggling thing about this is that these students are attending a university that this academic year costs $20,066 per semester, and next year will cost $20,658 per semester to attend (2014-15). That's tight, you did not read that wrong, and it is not a misprint. It is $20,066 per semester for the 2013-14 academic year. And if you are chosen to attend law school at this elite university next year, it will cost you $24,331 per semester. By the end of three years of law school students will be invested to the tune of over a quarter million dollars easily. And that isn't including undergrad costs.
Now, I'm sure these young people at American U are getting a first class education at their illustrious university. But if I was a parent sending my kid to that university and paying that kind of money, and if I learned that s/he could not name even ONE U.S. Senator while on camera for the world to see, I can tell you where my kid would be spending at least part of the summer: reviewing flashcards and learning the names of all 100 Senators, AND the state that s/he is from.
Oh, and by the way, it's no surprise that the one Senator anyone could name is Rand Paul. This Catholic voter is taking a good long look at the junior Senator from Kentucky. You should, too.
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