Utah, we Know Thee, NOT!

First, let me congratulate all of you for being selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Here, have one last look.

Now back to reality.

In the previous post I chatted a bit about the general lack of knowledge in the area of civics/current events/government. This dearth becomes more obvious (and mortifying) when one compares it to how much we generally know about pop culture/sports trivia/and general National Enquirer-like sensationalism.

And this lack of civics-related knowledge seems to discriminate against no one. Our recent samplings (unscientific as they might have been) proved that this malignant civic ignorance cuts across the spectrum of our fine community. However, we did find that the youth of Zion were disproportionately represented when it came to not knowing something about something they should. Did that make sense?

We can look at this in two ways (of course others will find more ways): 1. Some might say these youngsters don't have enough practical experience with the real world (meaning most aren't old enough to vote or pay significant sums of taxes) so why should they really care anyway?); or 2. Conversely, the younger demographic is in the best position to know this civics stuff since it hasn't been that long since they done learned those things in school (which then assumes they listened) as opposed to the rest of us who struggle to remember if we even took a civics or government class while we were in school; and some of us aren't all that sure we even remember graduating from high school in the first place. Regardless of the reasons, the average Utahn is pretty clueless about civics.

Can local government can play a role in addressing this ignorance? We think so. In recent months the ULCT has published a curriculum guide for 4th & 7th grade teachers who teach Utah studies. And we've also printed a pretty cool city services map to help teachers in lower elementary grades teach the kiddies about things their city or town might provide for them. Look, there they are below.

Both resources have been exceptionally well received by educators across the state; not only because they are free, but mostly because quality teaching resources about local government in Utah are fetching hard to find.

By the way, we've distributed these curriculum guides and posters to most of the school districts across the state, but a few have not responded to our kind offer. If you reside in the following school districts (Beaver, Daggett, Iron, Juab, Kane, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Wayne and Weber) and you think the teachers and students there would benefit from these resources, tell the administrators or teachers to give us a call and we'll send them what they want. Or better yet, you can call us, we'll send them to you, and you can deliver them yourselves. It's that easy.