Who’s George Washington? What’s Congress? Now, Tennessee High School Grads Have To Show They Know

They’re the basics of American history and government.

So we went out to the State Capitol to see if Tennesseans actually know them.

Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

Ethan Millsap was ready.

“Toughie,” he says sarcastically after multiple choices that include the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. “I’m going to go with the Civil War.”

The worship pastor and financial aid counselor at Trevecca Nazarene nailed it.

Starting this spring Tennessee high school students will have one more hurdle to clear on their way to getting a diploma. They’ll have to pass a test in American civics.

Under a new Tennessee law, school districts are now required to ask students questions like this. Questions that test basic concepts: How Congress works. What, exactly, the president’s duties are. Why people like Martin Luther King, Jr., and George Washington are remembered today.

Supporters say the exam will ensure future voters know what they should. The law’s main sponsor, Republican state Rep. Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, said it’s a test every American should pass.

“The test questions are not terribly difficult. They’re very basic questions,” he told state lawmakers. “It’d be a good test for legislators too.”

Tennessee isn’t alone. A national nonprofit, the Joe Foss Institute, is pushing states to require high school civics exams.

The group was founded by the family of a former Republican governor, football commissioner and president of the National Rifle Association. It says its goal is to “prepare students to be informed and engaged citizens.”

The organization has posted a sample test online. The questions come from the U.S. citizenship test. A passing grade is a 70. And students can take it as many times as they need.

The main objection to the requirement has been time. Schools already have a lot on their plates, and skeptics ask if the questions are so basic, why bother?

But backers say the exams can be worked into the classes students are already taking, like American history.

Jeremy Cochran, a freshman at Gallatin’s Station Camp High School, hasn’t even taken that class yet. But he aces our pop quiz.

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? A, the House of Representatives and the courts. B, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. C, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Or D, the Senate and the courts.

“C,” Cochran says immediately. “The House of Representatives and the Senate.”

Tennessee lawmakers hope other high school students will do just as well.