Are U.S. students dumb?

According to the 2010 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), only 7% of eighth graders are able to correctly identify the three branches of government, and furthermore only 10% can describe their relationships to one another.

This test measures the educational progress of students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. Many people are appalled by the civics scores released on Wednesday including Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who had two words to describe the results, “That’s pathetic.” She also added

the statistics in this latest study confirm that we have a terrible problem on our hands. It motivates me to work a lot harder

Are these students just not paying attention in school or are facts about the government unimportant? Should we be worried about the next generation?