Schools Create “Dunderheads” — A Generation Of Students Ignorant Of U.S. History — Says Fordham

Analyzing how schools teach American History has long been a big emphasis for the Dayton based Fordham Foundation. The recent report published by the Foundation — The State Of U.S. History Standards 2011 — states: “We have mounting evidence that American education is creating a generation of students who don’t understand or value our own nation’s history. Dunderheads … one might well conclude, at least in this domain.”

Of all subjects, American students score lowest in American History, with only 20% of students showing proficiency on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).

The Foundation states: “Historical comprehension is vital if students are to understand their nation and world, and function as responsible, informed citizens,” and, deplorably low history scores, “remind us of the serious shortcomings in how we approach history education in this land. In the vast majority of states, history standards are pitiable and incentives to take this subject seriously are nonexistent.”

Schools are evaluated according to their math and reading scores, but scores in history have no impact on schools’ evaluation.

Fordham published a comprehensive analysis of American History education standards in 2003 and then, just this past February, in 2011. It rated Ohio’s American History curriculum standards a “D” in 2003, and, again, a “D” in 2011. It rated the history standards of only one state, South Carolina, an “A”. The average score for all fifty states was a “D”.

Concerning Ohio, the report states, “There is little American history content or educational rigor in Ohio’s standards. Before eighth grade, there is effectively none. The eighth-grade course offers a bit, attempting to cover the entire period in a handful of broad content statements. The high school course, while marginally more sophisticated, is still exceedingly brief and general; at best, it offers a very basic outline.”

The report quotes noted historian David McCullough: “I don’t think there’s any question whatsoever that the students in our institutions of higher education have less grasp, less understanding, less knowledge of American history than ever before. I think we are raising a generation of young Americans who are, to a very large degree, historically illiterate.”

From the report:

What causes this alarming vacuum of basic historical knowledge? There are multiple explanations, of course, but the most significant is that few states and school systems take U.S. history seriously. So why should students?

Yes, every state requires students to study American history in some form — often in the traditional junior-year U.S. history course — and every state except Rhode Island has mandated at least rudimentary standards for this subject. Yet few hold their schools accountable for teaching the standards or their students accountable for learning the content. In fact, it appears that only thirteen states include any history or social studies as part of a high school exit exam and just eight assess (or will soon assess) social studies or history at both the elementary and high school levels.

This under-emphasis on history in K-12 is compounded by the fact that universities seldom require prowess in history as a condition of entrance and almost never make it a graduation requirement of their own.

Since learning history doesn’t really count, schools devote less and less instructional time to it. One analysis, based on federal data, suggests that elementary schools spend a paltry 7.6 percent of their total instructional time on social studies, of which history is only one part — and often a distressingly small part.

The cover of the Fordham report, "The State Of U.S. History Standards 2011"