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Teenagers clueless about history, literature
Teenagers have no clue about history or literature these days, a new study says.
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Among 1,200 students surveyed:
•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.
•52% could identify the theme of 1984.
•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.
In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Fewer (77%) knew Uncle Tom's Cabin helped end slavery a century earlier.
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I hate to politicize this, but the fact is, the influence of liberal legislators and liberal teachers unions have aided in the ignorance of teenagers. Of course, Martin Luther King is important, as are other civil rights-related topics. However, the pendulum has swung so far that, many times, civil rights and other minority issues are some of the only parts of American history that are highlighted in many classrooms.
More emphasis needs to be placed on race-neutral historical topics. The Civil War wasn't fought solely due to slavery, it was fought over the rights of states, of which slavery was a part. Rather than spending a week discussing Japanese internment camps during World War II, spend a day on it and the rest of the week discussing battles or the treatment of American prisoners held by the Japanese. There are so many topics from which to choose!
The bottom line is that this study shows a very urgent issue. Throwing money at the problem won't solve it. We need to reduce government involvement in schools, as well as reduce the influence of the teachers unions. Then we can get on the road to a better education system.
-Matt Hittle
Posted at 12:52PM Feb 26, 2008 by College Republicans in Education | Comments[3]
Matt,
You could not be more wrong. This is due to the fact that there is no government funding for schools, therefore they have to hire inexperienced teachers who do not know how to handle a high school classroom. They simply cannot afford to pay the good teachers anymore. If we take government out of schools the poor schools will get poorer and the rich get richer. It is not some liberal agenda that promotes this agenda to only teach liberal values. I went to high school in Berkeley, CA for three years and they made sure that we knew all facets of history, and I can think of a more liberal area than Berkeley. Less government money in schools will not make the children smarter, so stop spreading this libertarian propaganda that us "modern" liberals are ruining the school system. If they could afford to pay teachers more the quality of education would be much better because schools could afford experienced teachers.
Posted by Bill Muller on February 26, 2008 at 02:16 PM CST #
Propaganda, eh?
Milton Friedman, a man much smarter than both of us, has empirical evidence that privitization of schools will work.
Throwing money at a problem won't fix it, Bill.
Posted by Matt Hittle on February 26, 2008 at 04:27 PM CST #
I agree with Hittle here, not that there the only things that are taught are taught with a liberal agenda, but that major overhaul of our schools is needed. The answer seems to be that we need to run schools like a business. If you had a manager whose management style consistently led to poor performances then they would be fired. Same with teachers if your teaching style leads to poor performances in academics then you should be on the chopping block. Privatization of schools has worked in the few schools that they have tried it in, it also works in other countries. 20/20 did an excellent investigation into American schools called Stupid in America. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw I encourage everyone to check it out.
Posted by Dan Smart on February 27, 2008 at 10:13 AM CST #