Actor Richard Dreyfuss doesn’t have much respect for Members of Congress.

And that whole sitting-together-at-the-State-of-the-Union thing? He didn’t really buy it.

The Oscar-winning actor spoke at the National Press Club on Tuesday morning, conveying at great length his disappointment in current civil discourse and introducing his goal of bringing a new civics curriculum to public schools.

Although he’s got big names helping out — former House Chief Administrative Officer Scot Faulkner is serving as executive director of the actor’s new nonprofit, the Dreyfuss Initiative — Dreyfuss won’t be hitting Capitol Hill for support.

“Elected office is no longer a noble calling,” Dreyfuss tells HOH.

Ouch!

Dreyfuss says he won’t meet with politicians because he finds any support they would offer inauthentic. Instead, he hopes to engage outside leaders and institutions to bring his curriculum to schools. Doing so will help a raise a generation of informed Americans that value substance over sound bites, Dreyfuss says.

That’s something “this ritual that Congress is attempting” by sitting together won’t fix, he says.

“There should be some kind of IQ test for these office holders,” Dreyfuss adds. “Or at least an island to send them to.”