Do Students Know They're History?

It may come as a surprise that many students today are just not as schooled in liberal arts in high school as they should be, but according a recent survey done by a group called the Common Core, facts such as Christopher Columbus's founding of the "New World" which took place in the year 1492, are being confused by teens these days with some year in the late 1700's. Common Core is a group that describes itself as a research and advocacy foundation that is discovering and unearthing the truth that high school students are not as aware or informed about history as they should be. Interestingly enough the group is holding President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" which is extremely controversial act passed by Congress that reauthorized a number of federal programs aiming to improve the performance of U.S. pimary and secondary schools by increasing the standards of accountability for states, school districts, and schools, as well as providing parents more flexibility in choosing which schools their children will attend. The groups executive vice preseident Antonia Cortese has a very close tie to the Democratic party which comes as no surprise based on their accusations aimed at Pres. Bush's NCLB Act, but is also an acting member of one of the most important and influential teachers union in the United States.I dont believe that this groups telephone survey has found the answer as to why school children don't know the history of the United States, but improvements must be made to better acquaint them with the important dates and events that helped shaped this country. According to the Common Core, aprox. 1,200 seventeen year olds were called randomly throughout the month of January and given a series of thirty three multipe choice questions. This isn't exactly the best method of surveying students history knowledge, but ok. The group issued the statement regarding the poor test scores, “The nation’s education system has become obsessed with testing and basic skills because of the requirements of federal law, and that is not healthy." Although this jab at the current state of secondary education is somewhat relevant you must remember that the group relied on phone surveys, and we all know I'm sure how annoying phone surveys are.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/us/27history.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin>