Chris Sinecola is Communications and Media Relations Director at the Pioneer Institute.

He has edited several volumes of essays by diverse contributors for the Pioneer Institute. He has edited several volumes of essays by diverse contributors for the

Pioneer Institute over the years, and the latest one is called City on a Hill. U.S. History

and Civics in America's schools. It's co-edited with Jamie Gass. Welcome.

Buona matina, Senorola.

Grazie, Mark.

Good anathina, good Natale.

It's great to be with you.

Well, okay, first.

Why this collection now?

I mean, what motivated, anything particular

motivated the project other than just sort of the general, the general condition of civics

education in the United States? Sure. Well, I think that's probably about right, the general

condition of civics education in the United States. And to say abject horror might be too strong

at this point, I mean, but it might not be. Depending on where you look,

you see a fairly consistent decline in standardized test scores, things like the NEP scores, the Nations Report Card, if you will,

and then state by state when you look at different test scores, depending on what regimen the states use,

things seem pretty dismal. And also the move away from things like the SAT, de-emphasis on

standardized testing for admission to college makes it all the more difficult to gauge

how young people are actually doing. And in the case of civics and history specifically, it's

extremely difficult because it's not tested, even in a state like Massachusetts, which prides

itself on a long history of strong public education and innovation in education, charter schools,

...