As a retired librarian who has lived and worked mostly in suburban Baltimore but also across the country, I have watched with dismay as much of the American public in middle schools and high schools have been deprived of meaningful civics and history instruction, often lacking knowledge of the function and types of government that they live under, from their local county representatives to judges at the federal level.

Classes on world history have been shortened to a superficial study of wars, with little attention to their causes or results. And when taught, most courses are tested with machine-readable multiple-choice exams.

Another trend is troubling, too. Long-form literature such as novels or epic poems have likewise almost disappeared from the curricula. This matters. Studies have shown that long-form fiction supports problem analysis, memory and recognition of complexity. It may also improve empathy, and it certainly improves vocabulary.

Why did we degrade civics, history and literature? We opted instead to emphasize STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and its expensive labs and computers. These changes in education have coincided with an onslaught led by politicians against the public school system that has encouraged a decrease in investment in schools, and for parents who can afford it to move their children to private schools or find alternative education. The result is that communities, once aligned with common goals and experiences, have become hurt and divided.

When you couple these changes with the universal use of computers and cell phones with little regulation or protection against the misinformation ubiquitous on social media, you have a perfect storm. Data from all over the world inundates us daily. Lies proliferate like pirates on seas with no navies to intervene. We cannot even tell if the information we see and hear has been generated by countries hostile to us or artificial intelligence. And anonymity prevails.

These trends yield a citizenry that does not know its own history, world history or how it is represented by government at the federal, state and local level. What truths they do learn they have trouble distinguishing from a constant stream of lies and misrepresentations about the world they live in. They do not understand the place of compromise.

They cannot focus on problems that are complicated and difficult to resolve. Remember what Thomas Jefferson said in our nation’s earliest years: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be.”

We’re already seeing the negative civic consequences of these trends. Local face-to-face community groups are fading. We’ve witnessed the steady disappearance of Rotary, Elks, Kiwanis, Masons and Woman’s Clubs, and even small churches. All those groups that served as venues for the community to mingle and mix and did services for others are far smaller than they used to be. They have been replaced in large part by online groups.

We humans need our communities, so we find agreeable online groups that we never meet or know in any physical way, even though they can never provide the same fulfillment and satisfaction of real-life relationships with those we share a community with. And then what?

We, the citizens elect leaders who do not support or reflect our wants and wishes, but who mirror, focus and inflame our discontent and unhappiness.

Let’s not continue to place all the blame for the state of our society on individual candidates, political parties or the terrible influence of unregulated money-seeking influence. Instead, we should work to restore and promote a robust, educated and savvy electorate who know how and why to judge multiple viewpoints, unearth facts and decide logically and honestly what is in their best interests.

Mary Dagold is a retired librarian who lives in Pikesville.