About Principle
You got a U.S. passport. Nobody gave you the manual.
Democracy works a certain way. Most Americans never learn how. We're changing that. Read the news you're already reading. Understand the system beneath it. No abstract textbooks. No lectures. Just how government actually functions—and how your voice moves the needle.
US civics education is severely underfunded
Americans were sold citizenship without the instruction manual. Decades of underfunded education left civic knowledge declining and ordinary people locked out of understanding how power actually works.
Understanding government changes everything
When people actually understand how government works, everything shifts. They participate more. They vote. They take action. Research shows it creates voters and engaged citizens that last a lifetime.
Civics Education Across America
Every state approaches civics education differently. Some require comprehensive tests. Others rely on coursework. Some have no requirements at all. Explore how your state teaches—or doesn't teach—the foundations of democracy.
Civics Test Requirements
States requiring civics tests for high school graduation
Test Required
No Test Required
No Data
About this data: Civics education requirements vary widely by state. This map shows which states require civics tests for high school graduation, based on data from state Departments of Education, state statutes, and the December 2024 Hoover Institution report on state civics requirements. Data last updated: January 19, 2025.
Note from the Founder
I started Principle watching a presidential candidate campaign on abolishing the Department of Education. Then I watched it actually happen. It was the moment I realized: most Americans don't understand what the Department of Education does, why it exists, or what we'd lose. And those of us who did understand couldn't stop it.
That's when it clicked for me. The knowledge gap isn't just a problem. It's the vulnerability. When people don't understand how the system works, they can't see the threat until it's happening. Then it's too late.
My parents fled post-war Vietnam and built a life here. They taught me to value democracy. But nobody taught me how it actually works. Not in theory—in practice. How change happens. How power moves. How ordinary people can wield it. I learned these things late, as an adult, through trial and error.
Watching the 2024 election, I realized millions of Americans are in the same position. They vote. They care. But they're flying blind about the system they're trying to influence. The data backs this up: 70% of Americans fail basic civics tests. 1 in 4 can't name all three branches. This isn't an accident. Decades of policy choices left education chronically underfunded and civic knowledge declining.
And here's what scared me: when people don't understand the system, politicians can promise to dismantle it. People don't see the stakes until the bulldozer shows up.
The day ordinary people understand how power actually works is the day things change.
So we're building civic education that actually works. We teach how democracy functions by connecting news you're already reading to the civic tools beneath it: laws, agencies, courts, budgets. Plain language. Real examples.
Research backs this up. Students learn 26% more about government and become 38% more likely to vote when they reach voting age. Civic education creates voters that last a lifetime.
We show how the system is designed. How it actually runs. We help you build habits that last: ask better questions, check sources, understand trade-offs, take action.
Understanding how government works gives you your power back.
Make the news a classroom for democracy. One story at a time, we help people stop scrolling and start acting. We help you take your power back.
Founder
Tan Ho
I'm not an educator or a policy expert. I'm an entrepreneur from a Vietnamese immigrant family who got tired of watching people get played by a system they weren't taught to understand.
My family built something here from nothing. But I didn't inherit the civic knowledge that comes with being American. Most people don't. The system doesn't teach it. It doesn't have to—people can't fight back if they don't understand the game.
In 2019, I joined an edtech startup and saw the same pattern everywhere: great teachers, thin resources, and students desperate for help they couldn't find. When people don't understand, they lose confidence. Confidence keeps people out of opportunity.
I started Principle because I believe this: the day working-class people understand how power actually works is the day they take it back. I'm using my voice to help that happen.
If we get this right, we won't just teach civics. We'll help people form stronger relationships with facts, find shared ground, and open doors to opportunity that the system tried to keep locked.
Make Democracy Work
Democracy only works when people understand how it works. We're building something that matters, and we need people like you to make it real.
We're not funded by venture capital or government. We're built by people who believe democracy is worth fighting for. Your participation—whether it's learning, sharing, testing, or telling us what we're getting wrong—is how this movement grows. Thank you.