Good news: The U.S. government has three branches. Bad news: A new survey shows that if you lined up three average Americans, only two of them would know the names of those branches. 

What do Americans need? More schooling! At least, that’s what some people think. Some say colleges should teach more civics. (Civics is the study of citizens’ rights and responsibilities.) Most U.S. states require high schoolers to learn civics. But it seems the learning doesn’t stick. Many American adults have forgotten the three branches of government—legislative (which makes the laws), judicial (which interprets the laws), and executive (which carries out the laws). 

Let’s peek into one college classroom in Bluffton, South Carolina. Professor Kevin Dopf teaches at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. He asks how many of his students are United States citizens. Every hand shoots up.

 “How did all you people become citizens?” he asks. “Did you pass a test?”

 “No,” one young woman says. “We were born here.”

Professor Dopf makes his students take a test. It’s the same test immigrants take to become U.S. citizens. Most of Professor Dopf’s students fail. Good thing they didn’t have to take the real-life test for citizenship!

 According to Professor Dopf, only 30 to 35 percent of student pass the test. (That’s about one out of every three.) “The rest of them are clueless,” he says.

Over the past few years, a small but growing number of states have made new rules: College students must learn civics too. Not everyone agrees with the new college rules. Some believe college teachers should choose what they teach on their own.

Why? People who understand civics can become more responsible citizens.