The character Nigel Tufnel says: “These go to eleven”, describing the band Spinal Tap’s amplifiers. The scene is available here. The reason that’s funny is because we all know that “ten” in the world of audio volume is the highest setting and that turning other amps to ten is the loudest. Without the prerequisite knowledge of ten, eleven would be arbitrary and meaningless, and the joke wouldn’t be funny. (This Is Spinal Tap).
Let’s consider some examples of lack of prerequisite knowledge outside the area of amplifier settings and in the area of civics.
Canada has ten provinces, and the United States has fifty states. A paradox of the gross asymmetry of the number of political subdivisions in these countries is that far more Canadians per capita are able to name the fifty American states than Americans per capita are able to name the mere ten Canadian provinces.
Also, I had an American friend who ran for a statewide political office and lost. My friend, with a doctorate and a law license, didn’t know the difference between a budget debt and a budget deficit nor understand what an Australian ballot meant.
And finally, between my second and third years of university, I biked across the U.S. with a friend. This trip occurred before the ubiquitous, civilian use of GPS, and we relied on paper maps. Looking at a small-scale map of the large U.S., the exact limits of political boundaries or the exact location of time zone changes on the ground were not always clear. Asking locals along the way, we discovered that some were not aware that the U.S. has different time zones– or fifty states.
Whether you believe knowledge of foreign affairs, debts, deficits, ballots, time zones, and the number of states is an epistemic essential of U.S. civics, I would argue that it is.
Let’s now consider some laudatory examples of nonpartisan attempts to improve civics education.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had grave concerns about the demise of civics knowledge and education in the U.S. She observed that “only a third of the public can even name the three branches of government… yet two-thirds of Americans can name one of the judges from American Idol.” (Schnall). After retiring from the bench, her concerns led to her establishing iCivics, a nonpartisan organization “dedicated to advancing civic learning so young people have the confidence to shape the world around them and believe in [their] country’s future.”
Also, very recently, More Perfect, an alliance of thirty-seven presidential centers and more than one hundred other civics and educational organizations, has created In Pursuit to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In Pursuit, led by an archivist with the National Archives fired by the current president, is a nonpartisan essay series on civics topics beginning with U.S. presidents. (See “In Pursuit Launches In Pursuit”). The authors include three former presidents and the sitting chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Former President George W. Bush wrote “George Washington”, the debut essay in this series published on Presidents’ Day this year. In Pursuit will continue to publish a new essay each Monday throughout the year.
The current president of the U.S. has made numerous references to Canada’s becoming the fifty-first U.S. state. For example, he explained to U.S. military officials at Marine Corps Base Quantico that he told an unnamed Canadian official: “Why don’t you just join our country? Become the 51st state.” (CBC News). Without addressing the political and cultural hubris of this proposal– or the legal implications for the U.S. alone (See U.S. Constitution. art. 4, sec. 3, cl. 1)– contemplating the addition of a new, fifty-first state which is currently a sovereign political state larger than all the U.S. states in the aggregate is funny in the same way that Spinal Tap’s amps are funny– ludicrously funny.
However, the U.S. president has done his part in an unwitting and oblique way; he has educated millions that the U.S. goes to fifty.
I. Librarian
Works Cited:
Bush, George W. “George Washington by George W. Bush: For a Leader, Humility Is the Ultimate Strength.” In Pursuit, 16 Feb. 2026, https://inpursuit.substack.com/p/george-washington-by-george-w-bush.
Constitution of the United States, The: A Transcription. National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 4 May 2020, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript.
iCivics,https://ed.icivics.org/about/.
In Pursuit, More Perfect, 2026, https://inpursuit.substack.com/.“In Pursuit Launches In Pursuit, Inviting Americans To Draw Wisdom From Our Past And The Presidency To Shape Our Future.” In Pursuit, 17 Sept. 2025, https://inpursuit.substack.com/p/more-perfect-launches-in-pursuit
This Is Spinal Tap. Directed by Rob Reiner, Embassy Pictures, 1984.
Schnall, Marianne. “Reflections From My Interview With Trailblazing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.” Forbes, 1 Dec. 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/marianneschnall/2023/12/01/reflections-from-my-interview-with-trailblazing-supreme-court-justice-sandra-day-oconnor/ (forbes.com in Bing).
“Trump again floats Canada joining the U.S. as the 51st state.” CBC News, 30 Sept. 2025, www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-51st-state-again-1.7647268.
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