Posted on 05/09/2002 12:40:12 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of America's high school seniors do not have even the most basic grasp of U.S. history, showing no improvement in a nationwide test since 1994, the U.S. Education Department said on Thursday.
The department's national history "report card" measured the performance in 2001 of fourth, eighth and 12th graders in history, knowledge that is important for immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship.
Students did not know, for instance, that America's fundamental belief in individual liberty was expressed in the Declaration of Independence or that the image of Uncle Sam was used to appeal to patriotism during wartime.
Educators said the results were "truly abysmal," pointing out that the higher the grade and closer a student was to voting age, the lower the understanding of U.S. history.
It also found that a child scored higher if his parents were better educated or enjoyed a higher economic status.
In grade 12, the final year of school, only 43 percent of students had a basic or proficient knowledge of history, a figure unchanged from the same tests last done in 1994. Of these, only 11 percent of 12th graders performed at or above "proficient" level, identified by the Education Department as the level all students should attain.
More than a third of fourth graders and nearly 40 percent of eighth graders also did not have a basic understanding of the subject, a slight improvement from 1994. Among eighth graders, 17 percent reached proficient or above levels while just 18 percent of fourth graders had proficient scores.
"May I remind you that 'basic' is the bottom of the achievement ladder. And they didn't even reach that -- the lowest rung," Education Secretary Rod Paige told a news conference.
"This is unacceptable. History is a critical part of our nation's school curriculum, and it is through history that we understand our past and contemplate our future," he added.
CONCEPTS OF U.S. DEMOCRACY
Paige said he was alarmed -- particularly following the September 11 attacks that targeted U.S. democracy -- that some of the questions involving the most fundamental concepts of America's democracy had stumped students.
"For starters, a third of our fourth graders don't know that our fundamental right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' comes from the Declaration of Independence," he said.
The level of reading skills, history, math and science scores among American students compared to other industrialized countries has long been seen as a national embarrassment and the latest test results provided little good news.
An example of a multiple-choice question that 36 percent of 12th grade students got wrong was how best to describe the Progressive Movement of 1890-1920. The correct answer was that it was a broad-based reform movement that tried to reduce the abuses that came with modernization and industrialization.
In grade four, more than half of the students incorrectly identified what emotion a famous World War One army recruitment poster was appealing. The poster shows Uncle Sam, with pointed finger and the caption: "I want YOU for U.S. Army."
The correct answer was that the poster was trying to attract recruits through patriotism, but 45 percent thought the poster was appealing to homesickness, religious beliefs or a need for money.
One positive outcome of the study was that the performance gap was slowly closing in the younger grades between white and black students, and that Hispanic students in the 12th grade were catching up with their white peers.
Diane Ravitch, an education adviser to the Bush administration and professor of Education at New York University, called the high school senior results "truly abysmal" and called for better-trained history teachers.
KNOWING WHAT THE U.S. HOLDS DEAR
"Since the seniors are very close to voting age or already have reached it, one can only feel alarm that they know so little about their nation's history and express so little capacity to reflect on its meaning," said Ravitch.
Such scores, she said, were particularly alarming when the United States was under a terrorist threat following the September 11 attacks.
"Our ability to defend -- intelligently and thoughtfully -- what we as a nation hold dear depends on our knowledge and understanding of what we hold dear," she said.
The report found few differences between male and female results. However, the more educated the child's parent, the better the child was likely to do in the tests.
Students from private schools had higher scores than those from public schools, and at every grade, the average score of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches was lower than children who did not get free lunches.
The test contained both multiple choice questions to measure factual knowledge, and essay questions to measure a student's ability to reason, weigh conflicting information and back up arguments.
The test was given to 29,000 fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-graders in 1,100 public and private schools.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
In other words, the black and hispanic kids don't know any more than they ever did, but at least the normally higher performing white kids are dumbing down to their ignorance level.
One of the main goals of the left is a "level playing field" where we are all equally stupid.
It's the liberal agenda. One reason they are pushing so hard against vouchers and trying to regulate home schooling. Teaching our children about important issues such as homosexuality and the environment will make them a better liberal voter.
But I bet more than a third of them know how to put on a condom, thanks to the "educators" we have in the Public School Systems.
In a related story...
DNC Stock Futures at an All-Time High
Unfortunately, too many people fail to see this as what it is. Failure of the NEA/government/liberal teaching philosophy.
Go research this one!
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