The Constitution

On the list of all-time boring high school classes, I suspect that civics would have to be pretty close to the top; neck and neck with trigonometry, perhaps. There's just something about learning all the regulations and individual requirements for the legislative, judicial, and executive branches that makes you want to play paper football on your desk. The Constitution, a surprisingly comprehensive approach to the subject, uses historical art, some flashy graphics, and anecdotal stories, to tell the tale of our country's blueprint. It also reads the entire seven articles and all twenty-seven amendments over the course of the program, some of which--if I may be momentarily heretical here--is as insufferably dull as I remember it being in civics. The use of visual aids help somewhat, but 30 minutes in I was folding my notes into the familiar triangular shape of a paper football. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)