Sadly, US history a thing of the past for today's students
By Barry Lewis
We have some really bright people graduating from our colleges. Sharp as a tack. Aggressive. Open minded. Forward thinking. They know so much about the world. If only they knew just a tad more about their own country. Just a tad.
I’m not saying this to be mean or judgmental, but to understand how nearly 10 percent of college graduates believe that Judith Sheindlin, better known as "Judge Judy," actually serves on the Supreme Court. Where does she sit, between Justices Kennedy and Ginsberg? This isn't meant as a slight to Judge Judy, who more than 40 years ago prosecuted delinquency cases for the state of New York, eventually becoming Supervising Judge in Manhattan. At a time when Justice Clarence Thomas makes judicial news by deciding to break his decade-old silence and actually ask a question from the bench, the Supreme Court could actually use some no-nonsense talk from Judge Judy.
But that doesn’t excuse the knowledge gap and it sure says something about just how much American history is being absorbed by today's students. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni poll recently concluded that college graduates "are alarmingly ignorant of America's history and heritage."
That’s pretty strong language. Here are a few pretty strong examples: · The survey found 28.4 percent of college graduates correctly identify the father of the Constitution as James Madison. Unfortunately, about 59 percent of college students polled believes the father of the Constitution was Thomas Jefferson, who was the principal writer for the Declaration of Independence. · It found that almost 60 percent of college graduates couldn't correctly identify a requirement for ratifying a constitutional amendment and 40 percent of college graduates didn't know that Congress has the power to declare war. · The poll also revealed that less than 50 percent of college graduates surveyed know that presidential impeachments are tried before the U.S. Senate.
Maybe the problem has to do with the fact that less than 20 percent of liberal arts colleges and universities, the group found, require students to take an American history or government course to graduate.
The ACTA started to advocate for civics classes at U.S. colleges since its survey of graduates in 2000 found a majority of students failed to identify the significance of Valley Forge, key words from the Gettysburg Address or even basic facts about the Voting Rights Act. Those findings were so horrific that Congress called upon state officials, college trustees and just about anyone who would listen to address Americans' historical illiteracy. That resulted in surveys, reports and a national task force for grades K-12 and college level — all of which led nowhere.
A 2014 survey found that one-third of college graduates were unaware that FDR spearheaded the New Deal, and nearly half did not know that Teddy Roosevelt played a major role in constructing the Panama Canal. A survey a year later found that over one-third could not place the Civil War within the correct 20-year time frame.
