New Hampshire students may soon be brushing up on their state history. A new law will require New Hampshire high school students to take one credit of history and a half credit of civics as a prerequisite for graduation.
Democratic Senator Lou D’Allesandro, a former civics teacher, sponsored the bill. He says chronic low voter turnout in the U.S. is a symptom of poor civics education.
“We always complain, ‘people don’t know anything about the system, they don’t get involved, they don’t vote.’ Well, they don’t vote because they don’t understand the importance of voting and how meaningful it is to participate in the process.”
The move comes at a time when the New Hampshire Historical Society is raising concerns about what they call a ‘history deficit’ among the state’s elementary students.
They’re calling for a review of the state’s history and civics standards, which were last updated in 2006.
