Your editorial remarks (“Toward better informed voters,” Feb. 17), while appropriate, do not address the heart of the matter.

In reality, education in basic civics — covering national, state, and local governments — is so deficient as to be non-existent. Rather than pass a slew of laws to increase taxes to cover more of the same, perhaps it is time to address the subject seriously.

Dedicate a fair amount of the time currently spent on non-essential class material to civics and government education. Alternatively, require all students to complete the free online courses offered by Hillsdale College. I would recommend “Introduction to the Constitution,” “The Federalist Papers,” “The Presidency and the Constitution,” “The Meaning and History of the Constitution,” and “The U.S. Supreme Court.”

Who knows? If our public high school students completed those courses, they might learn as much about their government as home school and charter school students do now.

Jack Hamilton

Silverdale