Our Kids Don't know History?

A couple of weeks ago the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled,”Students Stumble Again on the Basics.” The article lamented our children’s lack of literacy in Social Science or History. According to this article, only 20% of 4th Graders, 17% of 8th Graders and 12% of 12th Graders are considered proficient or advanced in understanding history skills according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The test revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America's role in the world.

Interestingly, the teachers feel that this deficiency is due to the need to focus on reading and math for the No Child Left Behind tests and standards. Surprisingly in my day we managed to learn math, reading and social studies. While the teachers seem to feel that NCLB is taking too much time, they still find time to teach “my two moms”, “my two dads”, “Betty wears a Burka” or “Felipe is illegal”. Or hours of curriculum about the environment and the evils of fossil fuels.
I took a little visit to the curriculum for the highest income school district in our area – Council Rock Bucks County. The Council Rock curriculum does not teach United States history until 5th Grade. From 1st to 4th Grade the children learn – about what it means to be a citizen using books with titles like “About My World” and “Neighborhoods Near and Far”. This curriculum, while interesting are based on Time Magazine for Kids – need I say anything about Time Magazine for adults? Do you really want these people teaching their values to your children? The magazine that has brought us both Global Cooling and Global Warming within 30 years as irrefutable science?

The bottom line is that we have time for our children to learn our history, how we fit and have changed the modern world while also learning to read and do math. We need to allow the social engineering to remain outside of the school and focus on learning academic skills.

Let’s not have another year of our children failing at history and social studies.