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Yearning to know that they don't know
First the good news: According to a new survey by the American Revolution Center, over 90 percent of Americans believe it is important both to know the history and principles of the American Founding, and to teach them to students. Even when the responses are broken down according to political affiliation, income, gender, level of education or geography, Americans of all backgrounds nearly unanimously recognize the importance of the Founding.
Unfortunately, these same people have a rather hazy idea of what these principles are and how this history unfolded. Eighty-three percent failed a 27 question multiple-choice exam on the Founding period. Only 65 percent placed the American Revolution in the correct century.
The poor results will not be surprising to those who follow ACTA's work. In an earlier survey of historical literacy, we had found that four out of five seniors from the top 55 colleges and universities across the country had failed an exam on general American history. And when we looked at which of the country's leading colleges and universities actually require American government or history on WhatWillTheyLearn.com, only 20 of the 137 institutions we surveyed got a check mark.
Looking at the exams in both these reports, one may be tempted to dismiss some of the questions as completely irrelevant to contemporary political life and informed citizenship. After all, couldn't one reasonably ask what difference it makes whether anyone knows who the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was? In and of itself, the answers to this question merely amount to random pieces of information, easily accessed through a simple Google search. A Trivial Pursuit champion could well memorize the names of all Chief Justices and not know the first thing about the Supreme Court.
What matters ultimately though is not the name John Jay, but an understanding of the federal judiciary power and his role in shaping it. Someone who has studied this important question and understands what Publius called "the least dangerous" branch of government, will have encountered the name John Jay along the way. As such, he will be able to easily answer this question because he possesses a deeper understanding of the governing institutions of his country.
There is also something to be said for simply knowing and recognizing the names of the great men and women who left their imprint on this country's history. America is such a vast country and its population so diverse that part of what unites its people is a shared history. Let us not therefore neglect the education that will permit the next generation to bind itself to what Lincoln called "the mystic chords of memory."
Posted by David Azerrad on December 23, 2009 at December 23, 2009 11:45 AM
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