GEORGE KORDA: ‘Don’t know much about history’ is, sadly, true for many Americans.
There’s a problem when American citizens are asked such questions as who was the first president of the United States, who won the Civil War, or are asked to describe ISIS; and the answers come back along the lines of Abraham Roosevelt, the French, and a British rock group.
Americans’ obliviousness of their governmental institutions and their country’s past runs deep, as illustrated by a survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It was unveiled in Sept. 2014 with a news release titled “Americans know surprisingly little about their government, survey finds.”
“The survey of 1,416 adults, released for Constitution Day (Sept. 17) in conjunction with the launch of the Civics Renewal Network, found that:
*”While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one.
*”Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto.
*”One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.”
In 2000, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that seniors from America’s colleges and universities were graduating with, “alarming ignorance of their heritage and a profound historical illiteracy…four out of five—81%—of seniors recently surveyed from the top 55 colleges and universities in the United States received a grade of D or F on history questions drawn from a basic high school curriculum…Seniors could not identify Valley Forge, words from the Gettysburg Address, or even the basic principles of the U.S. Constitution.”
The 2014 National Association of Educational Assessment also revealed unhappy results. Only 18 percent of eighth grade students scored “proficient” in U.S. history, as reported in April 29, 2015’s U.S. News & World Report.
It’s not necessary to go just by statistics and articles. Ask a middle or high school student you know a series of basic U.S. history questions. Do they know what the three branches of government? Can they name the vice president? Can they identify the countries the U.S. fought in World War II; what the Emancipation Proclamation accomplished; what was the Cold War, or much of anything else about U.S. history?
Tennessee U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has for years pushed for more emphasis on teaching U.S. history and civics. The Every Student Succeeds Act, championed by Alexander this year passed Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The most publicized provision of the bill placed decisions about Common Core with the states and out of the federal government’s hands.
The legislation also dealt with history and civics education. One item: the Presidential Academy for American History and Civics Education Program, originally introduced by Alexander, was reauthorized. The Presidential Academy’s program includes giving students and teachers an opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. and learn about American history and civics.
But who will be doing the teaching?