History? Forget about it!

WASHINGTON -- The philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But rest assured, Santayana's
warning in no way applies to the students of our public schools and
universities.

Not because American students have photographic memories, surveys show
that's far from the case. No, the reason they wouldn't remember the past is
that they were never taught it in the first place. Our kids are not learning
history -- particularly American history -- either in grade school or
college. So, how can you forget what you've never known?

This appalling lack of historical knowledge shows up time and time again.
The latest manifestation was a quiz of college seniors conducted by the
Center for Research Survey and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.
More than 500 seniors at 55 of the country's top institutions of higher
learning like Yale, Northwestern and Smith, were asked 34 questions about
American and world history. Some of the more perplexing questions included:
"When was the Civil War?" "Which document established the division of powers
between the states and the federal government?" and "Who was the American
general at Yorktown?" This is hardly tough stuff.

Yet, 65 percent of the students failed the test, and only one -- one! --
answered all 34 answers correctly. CSRA noted, "little more than half of
college seniors know general information about American democracy and the
Constitution." Even more revealing was CSRA's observation that "no
significant differences were found between the responses of history majors
and those of students pursuing other academic majors."

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If you think the college results were awful, the scores of high school
students responding to a May Gallup Youth Survey on American history were
even worse. Gallup found that, among teenagers 13 to 17, only one in four
could pinpoint the year that the United States declared its independence.
Almost half could not name the Bill of Rights as the document that
guarantees freedom of the press, and another half could not tell you what
country was once led by Winston Churchill. More than half (58 percent)
could not say what year Columbus discovered America and less than 40 percent
knew that states' rights was an issue in the Civil War.

What happened? Why don't our students have any historical knowledge?
For that, you can thank our educational establishment, which has all but
eliminated history as a subject of study or as a prerequisite for
graduation. On the public school level, American history has been ploughed
under in the switch to the catch-all "social studies" which contains a
little bit of this and a little bit of that, but never anything that
approaches serious historical learning. Historical fact is all but banned as
trivial or a waste of time. The education establishment, according to
Martin L. Gross, writing in "The Conspiracy of Ignorance," wants its
students to "understand" history. But he rightly points out, "Without facts
or knowledge, there is no brain road map to understanding."

When educators did home in on history, the UCLA-based National Standards
for the Teaching of History came up with a curriculum for middle and high
schools in 1993 that was so politically correct, one of its sponsors, the
National Endowment for Humanities -- thanks to the diligence of its
chairman, Lynne Cheney -- disowned it. Imagine teaching American history
without mentioning the first presidency of George Washington; or the
achievements of Thomas Edison, Daniel Webster or the Wright Brothers. But
who needed them when you could extol the virtues of the National
Organization for Women and marvel at the grandeur of the ancient emperor of
Mali?

But perhaps there is some hope. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.,
introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate that calls for vast improvements
in the teaching of American history. The resolution notes that "basic
knowledge of United States history is essential to full and informed
participation in civic life and the larger vibrancy of the American
experiment in self-government," and "basic knowledge of the past serves as a
civic glue, binding together a diverse people into a single Nation with a
common purpose."

Amen to Senator Lieberman, who for a Democrat, also bravely stated, "We
cannot ignore the role of our public schools in contributing to this
historical ignorance." He wants educators to "redouble their efforts to
bolster our children's knowledge of U.S. history."

Since the educational establishment is so firmly in the pocket of the
Democratic Party (or is it the other way around?) can either be fully
trusted to undo the years of damage that have been foisted on the teaching
of history? One hopes so, but more realistically, Republicans in Congress,
along with maverick Democrats like Sen. Lieberman, will have to wield the
budgetary bludgeon to reform the teaching of history in American schools.

This generation may have been sacrificed on the altar of the education
establishment, but the next generation must not. Otherwise, the United
States won't make history, it will be history.

Neal Lavon covers foreign and domestic issues for the Voice of America in Washington. The views he expresses are his own.