“Even more problematic is the opportunity that history professors have to indoctrinate students with the activist playbook so common amongst progressive people: Oversimplify history by creating villains and heroes based on their identity markers. Impute racist or sexist motives to every historical figure who does not pass progressive muster. Wax eloquent about class struggle in every historical era. Discuss traditional social norms as though they are unenlightened and backwards….”
(Grant Haun – The Sentinel) Knowledge of history is an endangered specimen.
In a recent survey by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, a sample of Americans were asked ten questions about our nation’s founding taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test. Only one in three respondents passed this quiz, and the age gap in passing rate revealed a disturbing trend: 74% of respondents aged 65 years or older passed, followed by 51% of respondents aged between 45 and 64 years, and only 19% of those under 45….
Large majorities were unable to explain why the colonists fought the British or why Benjamin Franklin is famous. Over half did not know how many Justices serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Students currently receiving a history education are faring no better. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide test of grade school students, revealed that 86% of eighth-graders were below proficient in history knowledge in 2022, up from 84% in 2018 and 82% in 2014.