Some years back, I had lunch with a now-deceased friend who was a former state senator. When I asked if he missed interacting with the public, he said, “Oh, I still get invited to speak at high schools and colleges, and when I tell students I’m no longer in office, they ask if I miss being in Washington. I tell them I never served in Washington, my office was in the state capitol. Many of them don’t know the difference between a state senator and a United States Senator.”
More recently upon hearing the news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was running for president, a twenty-something friend reacted by saying, “That makes sense, his dad was president.” I replied, “Well, actually his dad was a U.S. Senator.” My friend said, “Wait, I thought his dad was the President Kennedy who was an actor.” I replied, “No, Ronald Reagan was the president who had been an actor.” After a pause, my friend said, “Now I’m really confused.”
And on Facebook, which some Americans consider to be their primary news source, a young woman angrily responded to a newspaper story about Hillary Clinton. “Why doesn’t she just go away?” she wrote. “This old lady exists for one reason only, to bash President Trump. I’ll bet she couldn’t find the White House with a map.” When someone responded by saying that Mrs. Clinton’s husband served two terms as President from 1993 until 2001, the original complainer wrote, “I was just a little kid back then, how would I know that?”
At first glance, these exchanges might provoke a laugh or two, but they also reveal a growing concern. In many schools, the subjects of history, government and civics are not the priority they once were.
There is no doubt that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is the school buzzword of the 21st century. One could make a strong case that in the emerging digital economy, it is better to look ahead than to dwell on the past.
Perhaps this is why school districts, with the help of businesses seeking qualified workers, are pouring money into engineering labs and technical training programs. Our dusty, dog-eared history books are long gone. If you want to find out who that actor-president was, you can Google it. And then go back to Tik Tok or Instagram for something more fun.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is often referred to as the nation’s report card. Although COVID-19 is blamed for many recent educational shortcomings, NAEP shows the steady decline in history and civics learning actually began in the 1990s. This coincides with the emergence of the internet, once believed to be a great educational tool.
Just 13% of eighth graders, according to the latest NAEP report, scored at or above proficient in the U.S. history assessment. In civics, only 22% of eighth graders were at or above proficient. You would think this is a wake-up call.
But as you may have heard, our federal and state governments now place far more emphasis on reading. Let’s face it, students can’t learn about history if they can’t read. Maybe we should incorporate more lessons about citizenship into the reading curriculum.
I fondly recall how my eighth grade American history teacher, Edward Carter absolutely drilled the basics of our government into our tiny teenage brains. At the end of that year, I knew and could recite the name of every president in order (and I still can today, test me when you see me). I knew the difference between state legislators, and U.S. representatives and senators. I could identify the three branches of our government, which is more than can be said about one current U.S. senator from Alabama. Although in all fairness, he was a pretty good college football coach.
As I write this, our bickering, divided Congress is debating raising the debt ceiling, and an upcoming budget that could affect the lives and well-being of our Veterans, our grandparents, our parents, our children, and their children.
Yet most Americans, especially young people are blissfully unaware. At some point they’ll say, “I wish I had read about that.”
DC, this is great! I don’t know how many times, during my tenure in the Legislature, I was asked if I was keeping “ole President (insert name here) in line. Or if I was about to get everyone is Washington straightened out. When I served on the East Ridge City Council, I had a fellow, I had a fellow Councilman that was convinced everyone in East Ridge was aware of every word and every action we took on that hallowed and revered dias. I challenged him to a test in front of The Red Food Store. After all, at the time, any good East Ridgean would be shopping in the anchor store of the Osborne Center, the first shopping mall in Tennessee. The challenge was to see how many fine folks could name 3 of the 5 sitting Council Members. Out of frustration only about ten folks were interrogated, I mean interviewed. Not a single one could name more than 2 and most of the ones that could name those 2 were family members that recognized the 2 of us. However, they asked that we not name them for fear that their friend would find out we were relatives. Nobody stays informed anymore. And don’t even start on cursive writing. How in the world are these kids going to write a check?
David,
I’ve been around higher education one way or another since 1967, when dad started teaching at what was the the University of Chattanooga and I started junior high school. The trends I’ve observed over my life leave me very disheartened; we are selling our kids short with our current educational efforts. My metrics for a good education are two-fold: personal and global. I’ll give you two examples:
First, the personal. Let’s assume you’re in a good job using the specific degree or vocational training you’ve received. Then you lose that job and there’s not another one like it anymore and never will be. Do you possess the internal resources to make a complete assessment of your strengths and weaknesses? Do you have the internal resources to research and locate (or create) a job that uses your strengths and when you’re applying for those jobs, do you have the resources that allow you to sell yourself successfully? If not, your education has failed you.
Second, a global example, one of thousands, and it’s extreme, I admit. Do you have an understanding of the factors that led to the Mongol invasion and conquering of Russia. Do you have any concept of the psychological impact of that invasion on the Russian psyche? Would you know where to go to find this information if you never took an advanced world history class? If you do, you have some understanding of what’s inside Vladimir Putin’s brain right now as he attempts to conquer Ukraine. If not, your education has failed you.
What I’m pointing to is that we need to get back to educating citizens instead of creating employees. Citizens can always find new careers while they are actually thinking critically about what’s going on in the world and how they need to respond to those issues.