Really? You don't say! The criticism from my point is that the priorities are so skewered that teenagers these days would rather get pissed than do something educational. As a teacher, I can tell you the criticism is warranted especially when an 18yr old about to graduate high school can't tell you how many members are in Congress or doesn't know what the Bill of Rights are and the rest are more interested in chatting on their phones than paying attention in class. Still think the rest of the world is jealous?

...well *I* don't know how many members there are of Congress. :-P That's what they call 'trivia' - knowledge that has no purpose outside of knowledge for its own sake. Now, what do they do? That's relevant. Who do I want to vote for? That's relevant. But how many? I just don't see how that matters...and if I recall, it's not an even, static, or easily derivable number. The Bill of Rights, on the other hand, should probably be important to anyone who actually cares about the government, freedom, or the interplay therebetween. Being able to recite them in order? No. Knowing what's in them, or at least what they are, and what significance they have in regard to our Constitution? Yes.

Actually knowing members of Congress is important esp. knowing who represents your district. It may not matter to you but consider this: I am British and I can recite the 27 amendments yet as a Brit it has no importance for me whenever I touch down at Heathrow but I still know it but as an American too, it helps so I can invoke those rights if I need to. Now since you raised the issue, do you know where your local Congress man/woman stands on the issues important to you? If they're just trivia, why bother teaching them in schools? Or do you think I and other teachers like to waste our time making lesson plans we'll never use?

Knowing your individual members of Congress is important, yes. Being able to count how many there are...well, if there's value in that, I'm not familiar with it. Much of what is taught in schools is not applicable to the daily life of most people, but it's all applicable to the daily life of *someone.* Someone does need to know how many members there are of Congress, I'm sure. That someone is not me, who interacts only with two members of Congress, and my choice of one of a number of potential members every couple of years. The people who are actually elected, but not running in my area, and who don't have to try to acquire my vote? I don't see the purpose to knowing about them. I'm not saying that this information is worthless to everyone, but I don't see how it benefits me. As another example, I learned calculus in high school. Most of my classmates have had no need for it since. I'm a computer engineer -- I have made great use of it. I also took a chemistry class in high school. Aside from gen ed requirements in college, I have had no use for an understanding of the composition of chemical compounds. It just doesn't apply to my every day life. To me, it is trivia. My friend who's a chemical engineer, who was in the same class? A completely different story. It's not something I'm going to remember, because I never use it.

Oh - and I should mention, that doesn't mean that the knowledge isn't important at a time of life when many people don't know what they want to spend their lives doing. I do agree that kids today are in a sorry state.