Recent polling by College Pulse for the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) reveals that college-aged Americans are abysmally ignorant of our rich historical heritage and knowledge of our most important civic institutions.

An implication is that the colleges neglect to instruct students to remedy that scandalous deficiency. While that is no doubt correct, the problem is even bigger, and the universities are doubly complicit: primary and secondary school teachers have received their training largely from colleges of education. Historically, the civic literacy we are discussing has been taught to students in high school.

The College Pulse survey asked questions such as “Who was the Father of the Constitution?”—only 31 percent chose the correct answer from four choices—“Who is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives?” or “What is the Electoral College?” Current college students did poorly on questions like these, but overwhelmingly—75 percent—knew that Jay-Z is married to Beyonce.

Who is to blame for these abysmal results?

This foundational knowledge should be taught in high school—or even earlier—and then reinforced in college classes in history or government. But where do the high school teachers themselves get their training? In large part, their studies focused on colleges of education. Typically, to teach high school students, individuals need a teaching certificate conferred by a state agency, and to get that certificate, one has to take a bunch of education courses. The educational reform literature is also replete with stories indicating that colleges of education emphasize student self-esteem while minimizing the teaching of fact-based contact. Tried and true instruction methods, such as phonics to enhance reading comprehension, have been downplayed. Probably at least partly due to these developments, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing data show that U.S. students generally rank below several Asian and European countries in understanding core concepts in mathematics and reading. For example, the 2022 results had an average math score for 15-year-old students in all participating countries of 472, while the U.S. average was only 465—below 25 other participating countries.

A most interesting and arguably hopeful development in modern times has been the sharp decline in the attractiveness of getting undergraduate college degrees in education.

In 1970-71, 21 percent of American bachelor’s degrees conferred were in education, compared with less than five percent in 2021-22. The absolute number of degrees conferred nationally far more than doubled, declining almost 50 percent in education. Yet the number of elementary and secondary teachers increased by over 50 percent: more teachers, but less teacher education at the undergraduate level.

Speaking personally, I had two kids who became teachers during this period. Both of them majored in other academic subjects—geography and the performing arts—but now are teachers or school administrators with advanced degrees in education—one a doctorate. Requiring intensive study in an academic field strikes me as essential.

There are other positive developments: there has been a rise in enrollments in non-traditional public schools, including homeschooling and private institutions, and an increasing number emphasizing old-fashioned learning, including even the study of Latin. Another trend, of course, has been the birth dearth, the sharp reduction in fertility rates—37 percent between 1970 and 2020—forcing some downsizing of urban public schools, which tend to be learning cesspools.

I think a strong case can be made for state governments to outlaw the award of bachelor’s degrees in education at public universities. I once testified before a state legislature that it ought to be a felony for a school superintendent or principal to knowingly hire as a teacher a holder of a bachelor’s degree in education—perhaps that is going too far. As a college professor without a single course in “how to teach” who won enough teaching awards to occasionally be asked to speak to prospective high school teachers on teaching effectiveness, I think graduate programs emphasizing research into effective teaching are highly appropriate, but otherwise, colleges should get out of the business of trying to define and produce fine primary and secondary teachers. Let them learn academic subjects well first.