David Broder, who I normally disagree with, has an excellent article in today’s Washington Post about the sad state of history education in America’s schools. Here’s just one indicator:
Charles Smith, the executive director of the NAEP governing board, spelled out what that means. In 2001, the last time the American history test was given, 57 percent of 12th-graders scored “below basic” in the subject.
“This means,” he said, “that the majority of 12th graders did not know, for example, that the Monroe Doctrine expressed opposition to European colonization in the Americas at the early part of the 19th century; how government spending during the Great Depression affected the economy; and that the Soviet Union was an ally of the U.S. in World War II.”
History, specifically American history, was one of my favorite subjects in public school and in college and was one of the few areas of study where I was motivated to do outside reading on my own. From the time I was in college until today, I’ve read countless books about the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War One, World War Two, and even Ancient Rome. Why ? Because I had been lucky enough to have teachers who sparked in me an interest in my country’s past. In 12th grade I took AP American History with Mr. Greenberg, who was had this uncanny ability to teach you about battles in long-forgotten wars in ways that made you feel like you were right there watching it happen. In college, I took a two semester American History class that just made me want to learn more.
If I were in school today it doesn’t seem like I would be as motivated as I was back then. School administrators are more concerned about how their students do on the standardized tests that decide how much funding they’ll get next year (or whether the principal will be fired or not) than they are with actual learning. While most teachers do the best job the can in a system that just isn’t working anymore, they are part of a union establishment that is stuck in the past. And parents ? I think that the only ones who really care are the ones who *don’t* drive around with those bumper stickers that tell everyone about their Honor Student child. For the most part, though, parents are powerless to do anything thanks to the government’s education monoply. Given all this it isn’t too surprising that things like this are happening:
[Tenn. Sen. Lamar] Alexander said, “Our children don’t know American history because they are not being taught it,” adding that the Florida Legislature had recently passed a bill permitting students to graduate from high school without taking a single U.S. history course.
The consequences of the decline of history education go beyond whether or not Johnny knows what the Monroe Doctrine was and what it meant. They go directly to the core of American society and government. If American school children don’t know American history, then how can they be expected to recognize when the rights and liberties that this nation was founded on are being eroded ?
George Santayana said that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. It could just as easily be said that those who forget the past are condemned to become the subjects of those who want to control the future.
Update: Linked with the Beltway Traffic Jam
