I love History it is really the story of us, it tells us where we have been and where it is possible to go, it is the class that dictators and tyrants hate because it is much easy to rule over people who have no since of themselves. Unfortunately it has been my experience that few students really like history. I have my Ideas why
but in a resent paper I wrote I come across some disturbing findings that I would am going to share with you . Please feel free to comment and If you have any thoughts on how to fix this please share them .
- A 1997 report from the United States Department of Education finds that on average students in grades one through four spent only 2.6 hours a week learning social studies of any kind.
- According to a 1998 Luntz Research survey, 59 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds identified Moe, Larry, and Curly while only 41 percent correctly cited the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.”
- Karl Marx's maxim, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” was or could have been written by the framers and included in the Constitution.
- approximately one-third (34 percent) correctly identified George Washington as the American General at Yorktown while 37 percent thought Ulysses S. Grant was the general at that battle.
- American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found students could graduate from 100 percent of the top colleges without taking a single course in American history. At 78 percent of the institutions, students were not required to take any history at all.
- In a 1999 survey commissioned by the National Association of Secretaries of State found that among 15- to 24-year-olds, their lowest-rated priorities in life were “being a good American” and “participating in democratic government and voting.”
Thomas
Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of
civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
[1]United States Department of Education, Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects
in Elementary Schools: Comparisons Across Community School
[2] Deroy Murdock, “Civic Ignorance Threatens American
Liberty,” Cato Institute, http://www.Cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4667
(accessed December 17, 2011).
[3] “Capitol History,” The United States Capitol Historical Society, http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/articles/uschs_articles-08.htm
(accessed December 17, 2011).
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
