I heard this on the radio news so I cant give you the complete story. What I did hear is that a nationwide study in the US found that 9 out of 10 high school students did not have an adequet knowledge of history.

Is it any surprise that there are students who don't know who was the US President at the time of the Civil War, or who was the Second US President. How many high school seniors can name all 13 original US States.

I have a friend who teaches History at University of Illinois at Champain-Urbana. He gave a test to new freshmen and found that half of the students did not know who Abraham Lincoln was. I thought it was a lie but then I heard from other teachers.

He also tutored freshment who needed help. BTW over half of his students were college athletes. One guy scored an 8 on his ACT. (I scored 20 on mine and was not admitted to U of I, go figure).

This kind of ignorance is shocking and inexcusable. Teachers should teach their students. Universities should not admit students who do not have proficient skills. I dont care if you play football or basketball. If you arnt smart enough to know this much you dont belong in college.

We need to teach the basics here. Not just in history but math, reading and so on.

How can we have an educated electorate when there are people who cannot find Afghanistan on a map. I think something has to change.

This has been an ever-growing problem in the United States - for all basic areas of study.

History (and Civics) is certainly a subject that garners this look :rolleyes: when many kids enter the classroom. They don't understand the significance of why it's important to know some basics about where our country's been and why certain decisions were made during those times, and how those decisions have affected our country and their lives individually.

In short, we must know where we've been to know where we're going. History is the greatest teacher of all. It gives us context and passes along lessons if we're willing to learn.

There are four areas where we can lay blame: the parents, the teachers, the kids, and our educational establishment.

All four have done a poor job...

http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/geography.shtml:topic:

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS
IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
"How Come No One Fights in Big Famous Nations Anymore?" They Ask

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) *" A delegation of American high school students today
demanded the United States stop waging war in obscure nations such as Afghanistan, Kuwait,
and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and instead attack places they've actually heard of, such as France,
Australia, and Austria, unless, they said, those last two are the same country.

"People claim we don't know as much geography as
our parents and grandparents, but it's so not our fault,"
Josh Beldoni, a senior at Fischer High School in Los
Angeles, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Back then they only had wars in, like, Germany and
England, but we're supposed to know about places like
Somalia and Massachusetts."

"Macedonia," corrected committee Chairman Carl Levin
of Michigan.

"See?" said Beldoni.

Beldoni's frustration was shared by nearly three dozen
students at the hearing, who blamed the U.S. military
for making them look bad.

"I totally support our soldiers and all that, but I am seriously failing both geography and social
studies because I keep getting asked to find Croatia or Yemvrekia, or whatever bizarre-o
country we send troops to," said Amelia Nash, a junior at Clark High School in Orlando, Fla.
"Can't we fight in, like, Italy? It's boot-shaped."

Chairman Levin however, explained that Italy was a U.S. ally, and that intervention is usually in
response to a specific threat.

"OK, what about Arulco?" interrupted Tyler Boone, a senior at Bellevue High School in
Wisconsin. "That's a country in Jagged Alliance 2 run by the evil Queen Deidranna. I'm totally
familiar with that place. She's a major threat."

"Jagged...?" said Levin.

"Alliance. It's a computer game."

"Well, no," Levin answered. "We can't attack a fictional country."

"Yeah right," Boone mumbled. "Like Grenada was real."

The students' testimony was supported by a cross-section of high school geography teachers,
who urged the committee to help lay a solid foundation for America's young people by
curtailing any intervention abroad.

"Since the anti-terror war began, most of my students can now point to Afghanistan on a map,
which is fine, but those same kids still don't know the capitals of Nevada and Ohio," said
Richard Gerber, who teaches at Rhymony High School in Atlanta. "I think we need to cut back
on our activities overseas and take care of business at home, and if that means invading
Tallahassee (Fla.) or Trenton (N.J.) so that students learn where they are, so be it."

"I've always wanted to stick it to Hartford (Conn.)," said Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
"Oh ****, is my microphone on?"

The hearing adjourned after six hours. An estimated 2,000 more students were expected to
hold a march in the nation's capital, but forgot which city it was in."

,

What's sad is that people naturalizing to the US know more about it's history and government than high school kids. WHy are our immigration rules stricter than high school curriculum? I'm guessing if teachers could spend less time teaching how to pass state tests and more time actually TEACHING, we wouldn't have this problem.

You have a point, but I would limit that to people who have immigrated here legally.
I think the reason is that there is such a desire to come to the US, to be a part of it, to take part in it, to know the history, and make a conscious effort to do so.

I think the lack of teaching of history is a deliberate attempt to sever roots with the past so the revolutionaries, who do control much of the public school system and institutions of lower living, can spout their revisionist history and paint the US, the founders, the previous culture, traditions ect ect ect, as evil which now goes on a daily basis in these institutions.

Cultural marxists understand this. Thier "Critical Thoery" was a prototype of the politics of persnal desturction. What the latter does to popular leaders, "Critical Theory" does to an entire nation through repeated assaults on its past. It is the moral equivelence of vandalizing the graves and desecrating the corpses of its ancestors.

Many of the institutions that now have custody of our past operate on the principles of Big Brothers Ministy of Truth: Drop down the "memory hole" the patriotic stories of Americas greatness and glory, and produce new "warts and all" histories that play up her cries an sins, revealing what we have loved to be loathsome and those we have revered to be despicable. Many of our old heroes have not survived the new history.

The Ultimate Goal: Destroy patriotism, kill the love of country, demoraltize the people, deconstruct America....History wthen will no longer unite and inspire us, but depress and divide us into the chileren of victims and the children of the villians of America's past.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past
Orwell






In 1992 UCLA was awaded 2 million dollars byt he Nat. Endowment for the Humanities and the US Dept of Education to develop new National history standards for the textbooks for kids from the 5th through 1th grades. In 97 UCLA completed its assignment.
This is what is now in the history books to be studied by America's children.

1) No mention of Samuesl Adams, Paul REvere, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, or the Wright Brothers.

2) 17 references to the Ku Klux Klan and 9 references to Sen Joe McCarthy.

3) Harriet Tubman was referenced 6 times while Robt E Lee was ignored.

4) The founding dates for the Sierra Club and the Nat Org for Women were recommended for special notice.

5) Instructions for teaching students about the traitor Alger Hiss and executed Soviet spies, the Rosenbergs, who gave the atom bomb secrets to Stalin, urged "leeway for the teachers to teach it any way."

6) THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WAS NEVER MENTIONED

7) The presidency of George Washington was unmentioned, as was his Farewell address. Instead, students were "invited to construct a dialogue btween and Indian leader and Geore Washington at the end of the Revolutionary war".

8) The 1969 moon landing did not appear, but eh Soviet Union was commended for its great "advances" in space exploration.

9) The only congressional figure included was Speaker Tip O'Neill, cited for calling President Reagan a "cheerleader for selfishness".

10) Teachers were urged to have their pupils conduct a mock trial of John Rockefeller of Standard Oil.

11) Students were instructed to "analyze the achievements of andgrandeur of Mansa Musa's court, and the social customs and wealthe of the kingdom of Mali," and to study Aztec "skills, labor system, and architecture." No mention of the quaint old Aztec custom of human sacrifice.

If we forget what we did, we wont know who we are. I am warning of th eraadication of...the American memory, that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.
Ronald Reagans farewell address.






Today not ONE of the 55 elite colleges and universities, as rated by US News and World Report, requires a course in American History to graduate.

Had enough yet???

My sister is a teacher. The problem lies in state achievement tests. The teachers jobs depend on raising test scores. In turn, they teach what is on the test. History is left in the dust because English and Math come first.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
My sister is a teacher. The problem lies in state achievement tests. The teachers jobs depend on raising test scores. In turn, they teach what is on the test. History is left in the dust because English and Math come first.


You're right about that, I read this huge article about these state tests in Texas from a former teacher that went into detail about how they spend most of the year preparing for these stupid tests. He pretty much said they've ruined the schools with them.

Of course this crap is done so some lowlife politicians can use these test scores to proclaim how pro education they are. Another reason to oppose government..

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
History is left in the dust because English and Math come first.

Gee, where do you think the practical use of English is aptly applied? Answer: history.

Some of the best "English" teachers that I've come across - up to and through college - have been History teachers or professors.

Originally posted by CYLLON
http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/geography.shtml:topic:

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS
IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
"How Come No One Fights in Big Famous Nations Anymore?" They Ask

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) *" A delegation of American high school students today
demanded the United States stop waging war in obscure nations such as Afghanistan, Kuwait,
and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and instead attack places they've actually heard of, such as France,
Australia, and Austria, unless, they said, those last two are the same country.

"People claim we don't know as much geography as
our parents and grandparents, but it's so not our fault,"
Josh Beldoni, a senior at Fischer High School in Los
Angeles, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Back then they only had wars in, like, Germany and
England, but we're supposed to know about places like
Somalia and Massachusetts."

"Macedonia," corrected committee Chairman Carl Levin
of Michigan.

"See?" said Beldoni.

Beldoni's frustration was shared by nearly three dozen
students at the hearing, who blamed the U.S. military
for making them look bad.

"I totally support our soldiers and all that, but I am seriously failing both geography and social
studies because I keep getting asked to find Croatia or Yemvrekia, or whatever bizarre-o
country we send troops to," said Amelia Nash, a junior at Clark High School in Orlando, Fla.
"Can't we fight in, like, Italy? It's boot-shaped."

Chairman Levin however, explained that Italy was a U.S. ally, and that intervention is usually in
response to a specific threat.

"OK, what about Arulco?" interrupted Tyler Boone, a senior at Bellevue High School in
Wisconsin. "That's a country in Jagged Alliance 2 run by the evil Queen Deidranna. I'm totally
familiar with that place. She's a major threat."

"Jagged...?" said Levin.

"Alliance. It's a computer game."

"Well, no," Levin answered. "We can't attack a fictional country."

"Yeah right," Boone mumbled. "Like Grenada was real."

The students' testimony was supported by a cross-section of high school geography teachers,
who urged the committee to help lay a solid foundation for America's young people by
curtailing any intervention abroad.

"Since the anti-terror war began, most of my students can now point to Afghanistan on a map,
which is fine, but those same kids still don't know the capitals of Nevada and Ohio," said
Richard Gerber, who teaches at Rhymony High School in Atlanta. "I think we need to cut back
on our activities overseas and take care of business at home, and if that means invading
Tallahassee (Fla.) or Trenton (N.J.) so that students learn where they are, so be it."

"I've always wanted to stick it to Hartford (Conn.)," said Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
"Oh ****, is my microphone on?"

The hearing adjourned after six hours. An estimated 2,000 more students were expected to
hold a march in the nation's capital, but forgot which city it was in."

,
That would make things easier. I think I will write the President about that.:D

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
What's sad is that people naturalizing to the US know more about it's history and government than high school kids. WHy are our immigration rules stricter than high school curriculum? I'm guessing if teachers could spend less time teaching how to pass state tests and more time actually TEACHING, we wouldn't have this problem.
Interesting you should say that. My Poli-Sci teacher was from India. This guy knew the US constitution backwards and forwards.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
My sister is a teacher. The problem lies in state achievement tests. The teachers jobs depend on raising test scores. In turn, they teach what is on the test. History is left in the dust because English and Math come first.
And at U of I Athletics take a priority over everything else. There was one case in which a half back on the football team graduated and could not read. His father was murdered and he could not read his father's gravestone.

Today not ONE of the 55 elite colleges and universities, as rated by US News and World Report, requires a course in American History to graduate.
That's a poor example. College degrees are NOT about more 'general education' neccessarily. They are about specialized applications and further 'academic' study.

Did you look into how many of those '55 elite colleges' have a REQUIREMENT to enter the university for a high school US History Course? I know UCLA is on the list and UCLA does.

In the state of CA you're required to have a year long US History Course to graduate from high school, in addition to a semester long government course, which focuses heavily on the constitution.

Any short coming we have in History education does not come from a neccessary short coming of our educators, it comes from a societal short coming. We, as a whole, devalue education and learning. Look at the stigma against 'nerds' and the glorification of jocks. Look at people expecting schools to be their sole source of learning.

High school students need to spend more out of class time on DA, and less out of class time trying to score. :cool:

Well, the fact is that other countries pay their citizens to get an education here, in the hope they will return home use the knowledge/education they've received in the US to better their homeland. Many of these students end up staying here for a number of reasons, 2 of which are the freedom they enjoy and the high wages they can earn.

Unfortunately, for many native-born americans, life is about what kind of car you drive and/or whether or not you're "cool" or how attractive you are-- not whether or not you are a productive member of society. It will be our downfall if we do not correct it.

I think the future will be like the movie Brazil.

"Who cares about democracy!?!? Just gimme my SUV!! History!? History's history!"

There was a Chinease general, don't remember his name, but he said something like this "The thing I like about Americans is that they have such short historical memories" or something like that.

The study of history doesn't do us any good if all we take from it are the dates of historical events. Don't know about the rest of you, but half my tests were dates. I spent all my time trying to memorize the damn things, and ended up missing the point entirely. Made history boring to me then, but I adore it now. Obviously, there are some dates that should never be forgotten, like July 4th, December 7, 1941 and June 6, 1944. The teachers that truly loved history were the best since they usually threw the text books away and read from the works of Durant etc.

Certain, ahem...organizations really like it that kids today don't know anything about history since it gives them them an opportunity to exploit their politically correct, warped version of it.