Now that the 4th of July holiday has passed, did we stop and think at some time during the day what the celebration was really about? I wondered that at different times during the day. I asked myself if most people thought only about the fireworks and food, and not about what happened on that day over 200 years ago. With those thoughts so recently on my mind, my attention was quickly drawn to an article in the newspaper today.  It was about a test given to college students that asked questions about America's history and institutions.  Ideally, every student taking the test would get a high score because the subject material is so fundamentally important to every citizen of this country.  The test results showed something very different. The average score for college seniors was failing.  For freshman it was worse.  Many students couldn't answer what the first line in the Declaration of Independence said.  Some didn't know what school of thought Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson patterned the document after.  Some didn't even know what George Washington did when he was alive. After I read the news article, I went to the website to read in more detail and to ...