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 see if I could take the test.  At first I scoffed at how easy it would be - I was a history major after all.  Then I started to wonder what if I scored just as poorly as the rest of them.  It was time to find out if I knew as much as I thought I knew.

A lot of the questions were obvious, but others kind of difficult.  I ended up getting a disappointing 70%.  I went back and reviewed the wrong answers and kicked myself for not knowing better.  Regardless of and stupid mistakes I made though, I didn’t do much better that the college students.  Lesson?  I’ve got a lot to learn about this country, and I shouldn’t assume that I know most of it.

If you are reading this post, you should take the test.  Take it just to see how much you know about your country.  Take it to see which questions are completely foreign to you so you can go and learn about them.  To a certain extent, we are not responsible citizens of this country that has given us so much unless we know what went into its founding and principles.  We can either reverse the trend of kids getting dumber about American history, economics, principles, and thought, or we can let it keep going the way it is going.  I would hope we would all choose the former and do something about this alarming trend.

Tags: American history, American Universities, United States of America, Civic literacy

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