Education or Self-Absorption

A recent poll for the Civitas Institute shows less than half the voters in North Carolina know which political party is in charge of the state legislature.

I would argue that this is not a result of a lack of education, but rather a result of our self-absorption.  

In school, I was forced to memorize the state counties, their seats and other facts about North Carolina government, but I never saw this as something that effected me and thus I did not attempt to retain this information.

So perhaps the problem does not lie within the education system, but rather how the information is presented to our students. They aren't taught the importance of local and state government. They simply learn the facts to pass the exams.

The solution is not to fill the minds of young people with facts, but with the desire to learn about these institutions. But how can we do this? I do not know, but I hope the media is able to engage young readers and instill in them a sense of political efficacy.