# Did your high school require you to pass a civics test? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920 "2011-05-14T19:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/21 "2011-05-15T05:19:08Z")
Not only did we never have a civics test in high school (graduated '93), but what little constitutional and political content we had was shoehorned into World Geography. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/22 "2011-05-15T06:01:37Z")
We had a year long government class we had to take, supposedly if you didn’t pass you didn’t graduate. I know a few kids who didn’t pass and they graduated anyway. so I picked no. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/23 "2011-05-15T07:14:04Z")
In early 90s Louisiana, you were required to pass a one-semester Civics class. It provided a fair overview of the essentials at the federal level, but covered almost nothing at the state level or smaller. Oddly enough, it also resulted in a lot of kids learning to type. The only other one-semester class my school offered at the time was Typing, so nearly everyone was stuck with taking both classes. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/24 "2011-05-15T08:00:05Z")
We had a required, one-semester class called American Government, which was exactly what it said on the box. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/25 "2011-05-15T08:11:28Z")
Not to graduate, but I support the idea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/26 "2011-05-15T12:35:54Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > You took one in middle school and one in high school - both are state requirements. > > Illinois, graduated HS in 1986 😃 Thanks, **Eva Luna**. It was bugging me out of all proportion to its importance that I couldn’t remember clearly! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/27 "2011-05-15T21:04:45Z")
No. I never even took a civics class. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/28 "2011-05-15T22:12:52Z")
We had to have a civics class, but no special test of any kind. It was one of my favorite classes in ninth grade because I actually learned something (rather than other social studies classes where we kept repeating crap we’d already been taught before.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/29 "2011-05-16T02:35:48Z")
We not only had to pass a required civics course (U.S. history) in high school, but when I was at the University of Missouri, all undergraduate students had to pass a course on the Missouri constution and government. All 20,000 of us. And it wasn’t just an auditorium lecture course either – dozens of sections every semester with papers and projects and the whole nine yards. I also went to a Catholic college where undergraduates had to complete at least one theology course. There were a lot of different choices, though, ranging from Bible study to comparative religions to a course on atheism. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/30 "2011-05-16T02:40:00Z")
No. We studied all three levels of government (municipal, provincial, federal) in Grades 5 and 6; and obviously at those ages, weren’t required to have a final exam or anything similar. Still, we were expected to know what we learned as we went forward to high school, and as I recall, those who couldn’t remember did have a few problems–a lot of our history classes in high school dealt with parliamentary debates over contemporary issues, and those who had no idea how a government was formed under our constitution did not fare very well. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/31 "2011-05-16T04:17:16Z")
We had to pass one in eighth grade in order to go to high school, 1968, IL. No requirements for high school, maybe because high school wasn’t the be all and end all then. Kids routinely dropped out of high school at the age of 16. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/32 "2011-05-16T04:25:48Z")
NETA: I went to a Catholic school and passing the civics exam was a graduation requirement. It wasn’t just a public school thing. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/33 "2011-05-16T04:30:06Z")
No, just regular tests and stuff. Hell, where I grew up you were already considered a good citizen if you didn’t screw a cow on a dare. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/34 "2011-05-16T17:54:38Z")
Unless you count the Constitution test (required of every high school senior in Illinois), then no. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/35 "2011-05-16T19:26:29Z")
In Illinois, I had to pass a constitution test in the 7th grade and again in the 10th grade. Both times came with a semester of government-oriented Social Studies which culminated in the constitution test at the end of the semester. Graduated in 1991. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/36 "2011-05-16T19:29:56Z")
I took “Government” in 12th grade (1974), doesn’t everybody have to? Now that I say that I don’t remember my kids taking it, but I could have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/37 "2011-05-17T17:08:51Z")
No, I think it should be a requirement. I also think that high school should be required to a rudimentary knowledge of doing taxes, at least fill out a 1040EZ form. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/38 "2011-05-17T18:38:25Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > We had to have a civics class, but no special test of any kind. It was one of my favorite classes in ninth grade because I actually learned something (rather than other social studies classes where we kept repeating crap we’d already been taught before.) We had this in Alabama in the 70s - a required Civics class in 9th grade. No special test, just pass the course which presumably had a mid-term and final exam. Unlike BigT, I retained absolutely nothing about this class. Everything I “learned” in the first 12 years of school (which I hated with a blinding passion), I had to relearn in college (which I loved with a blinding passion). Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920/39 "2011-05-17T20:14:11Z")
I said no because I don’t even know what a civics test is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-high-school-require-you-to-pass-a-civics-test/581920.md?page=1)