In this article, the authors review the state of civic education in schools. They point out that students typically "take only one semester-long course on American government"--unlike the situation in the 1960s, when it was common "for students to take multiple courses in civics covering not only the structure of American government, but also the role of citizens and the issues they and the government face." Here, the authors pose the question, "What is high quality civic education and who gets it?" and conclude that students have inadequate opportunities at school to develop civic commitments and capacities, and that minority students are the group most likely to be deprived of a good civics education. (Contains 1 figure and 32 notes.)