This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I am a senior attending Hillcrest High School. Recently, I was required to take the civics test mandated by the recently passed Senate Bill 60, the American Civics Education Initiative, sponsored by the far-right Sen. Howard Stephenson.
I like this bill because it is important for students to be knowledgeable about their country's history and its government.
However, I did take issue with one question asked on the test. The question was "What is the economic system in the United States?" I put "mixed economy" for my answer, and I got the question wrong. The correct answer was "market economy."
This disturbed me because the United States clearly has a mixed economy. It seems as though the mandatory civics test contains a partisan bias — many conservatives would like the economy to be a market economy, or think that it is, but this is not true.
Partisan politics should be left out of school, especially in the subject of history. It is not right to teach students a censored or distorted version or history, even if many people "agree" with that version of history.
I support a mandatory civics test, but strongly oppose the presence of partisan politics within said test.
Daniel Day
Draper