Apparently, American teenagers don’t know much about history:
Fewer than half of American teenagers who were asked basic history and literature questions in a phone survey knew when the Civil War was fought, and one in four said Columbus sailed to the New World some time after 1750, not in 1492.
The survey results, released on Tuesday, demonstrate that a significant proportion of teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature, said the group that commissioned it, Common Core.
Details:
In the survey, 1,200 17-year-olds were called in January and asked to answer 33 multiple-choice questions about history and literature that were read aloud to them. The questions were drawn from a test that the federal government administered in 1986.
About a quarter of the teenagers were unable to correctly identify Hitler as Germany’s chancellor in World War II, instead identifying him as a munitions maker, an Austrian premier and the German kaiser.
On literature, the teenagers fared even worse. Four in 10 could pick the name of Ralph Ellison’s novel about a young man’s growing up in the South and moving to Harlem, “Invisible Man,” from a list of titles. About half knew that in the Bible Job is known for his patience in suffering. About as many said he was known for his skill as a builder, his prowess in battle or his prophetic abilities.
The history question that proved easiest asked the respondents to identify the man who declared, “I have a dream.” Ninety-seven percent correctly picked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
About 8 in 10, a higher percentage than on any other literature question, knew that Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about two children affected by the conflict in their community when their father defends a black man in court.
The upside, of course, is that when they do repeat history they won’t know it so it will be new to them.
Post title explained here.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Kids getting dumber? Try kids have better things to do than learn about history.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Better things like what ?
Play Guitar Hero and send SMS messages ?
Yea, that will lead to great country in about 20 years.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I believe that while history is important, it is not as important TO MEMORIZE it as it used to be. In 1986, if you wanted to know something about WWII you went to a library, picked up 2-3 books about it and read it and made your own summary of the information that you read. Now, you just type it in google and read someone elses summary about it and still get the same grade as the kid in 1986. My point is that history and almost all knowledge that was necessary to memorize and regurgitate in a classroom situation is now available at the click of a mouse at any moment. The abilities that were necessary in the late 20th are now less important. Daniel Pink has a really good podcast about this if you want to check it out.