And learn your Country's History, God Dammit!

The BBQ Pit
1

From FoxNews:

U.S. Teens Struggle With History
Tuesday, July 03, 2001

         NORFOLK, Va. — One in five American teen-agers doesn't know the answer to this grade-school history question: From what country did America declare its independence?

Twenty-two percent of those who responded to the survey commissioned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation did not know the answer was England. Fourteen percent thought it was France.

``When you look at these numbers, it means that more than 5 million U.S. teen-agers don’t understand the true meaning of Independence Day,’’ said Colin Campbell, president of the foundation that runs Colonial Williamsburg, the restored 18th-century capital.

The nationwide telephone survey of 1,020 youngsters ages 12 to 17 was conducted May 31 to June 5 and has a margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Nearly all those surveyed knew that Washington, D.C., is the U.S. capital and that George W. Bush is president. However:

—One in 10 did not know George Washington was the first president.

—17 percent did not know there were 13 original colonies.

—15 percent did not know the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

—Nearly one in four did not know who fought in the Civil War; 13 percent thought it was the United States and England.

Oh, Hell. Either they are exageratting the prpblem a hell of a lot, or the Liberals are increasingly being sucessful in teaching America’s kids how NOT to have pride in their country.

Either way it sucks balls.

2

How very useful. You had me up to there, pally. But really, I can get all the knee-jerk spew I want in my local paper.

3

I’m sorry. I must have missed the part where it said the survey was taken of only those children who were educated by Liberals. :rolleyes:

4

:rolleyes:

Right. I’ll keep that in my dirty dirty liberal mind as I look over the extra college credit I have from the US History I took in High school.

5

That was poorly phrase. Obviously it wasn’t necessaryly “liberals” doing the actual teaching BUT it was a Democratic controlled congress which, in the 1980’s began to take out civic’s courses from federal schools (Department of Defense, State) and encouraged local schools to do the same.

So we can have a condom class but not civic classes? WTF?

6

Them there damn Democrats must have taught you to phrase poorly too. Keep it up, you too could be president.

I guess your daddy should have gotten a condom in school.

7

Umm…I went to HS in northeastern Mass, one of the liberalest areas of the country, and we certainly had both a civics class AND a foreign relations class in my school, and it is still there, two years later.

In fact, the civics teacher has won more than a few national awards for his efforts.

For the record, however, most of the complaints listed in the FoxNews article would be addressed in a HISTORY class, not a civics class. And, of course, let’s not forget that 13 Original Colonies is somewhat misleading. There was ONE original colony, whichever one it was that the King chartered first. I’m pretty sure it was Jamestown, in 1616 or so. There can only be one “original” anything, if they weren’t formed simultaneously.

Also, if you were a teenager, and some guy called you at 7PM asking you questions, potentially interupting Friends or the Simpsons, what are the odds you’re going to answer him truthfully, and not just yank his chain a little bit? I give no respect to telemarketers, and pollsters are often confused with the telemarketer scum that plagues us so much.

All of this, of course, is not to say that our educational system ISN’T deficient in some areas.

8

I always thought these surveys were bunk. However, I spent a bit of time teaching high school. Before the Gulf war, there was a brief scare in which the US reflagged Kwait (spell?) oil tankers. We were talking about it when one girl asked, “Where is Kwait (sp?)” I said, near Saudi Arabia. ?? . Near Iran. ??

OK, I drew a rough map of the world on the chalk board and had the students come up one by one and put a X near Kwait. Only 2 out of 18 had it right. The other 16 weren’t even close with about half thinking it was in South America.

On a related note, in COLLEGE, I was teaching Trig and we were covering the ancient Greeks attepmt to find distance to the moon (they were very close) and the sun (a noble try). Before we did the problem, I asked how far the sun was away from the Earth… When there was confusion, I had them all write it down and hand to me.

Not one, NOT ONE, out of about 40 COLLEGE students were even within 2 magnitudes. Many seemed to think about 10,000 miles.

I informed the astronomy prof and he flipped. He tried the experiment again and had similar results.

It’s worse out there than you think…

It even strikes close to home. My wife and I were watching ‘Glory’. She then asked about the civil war and acted like she never heard of it. (!) I explained it to her and things seemed fine until she looked at me and asked “Who won?”. I tried to bite my tongue but couldn’t stop laughing. Coldest night I spent in awhile! :wink:

9

While I tend to agree that Liberals do push the “America is evil” party line, this gem

is a load of hooey. I know for a fact that DoD schools in the Pacific Theater DO teach civics classes. While the Department of Education does make recommendations, it does not control the curricula of local school districts.

10

Well, perhpas that’s because the date is misleading. The Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2. Jefferson’s (edited) wording of the Declaration was adopted on July 4, but the official copy was not signed until August 2.

Then again, what do I know. You would probably consider me one of those damn Liberals who don’t want children to have pride in their country. Don’t let my military service fool you, after all I support Federal money for head start programs and strong separation between public money and religious instruction.

Hell, I’m so twisted that I would actually want data about the construction of the survey, the method used to determine the sample, and some historical data to show how the results are trending. Then again, why bother.

It’s so much easier to just spout rhetoric and demonize people with honest disagreements.
:rolleyes:
[sub]Damn – what is it with the boards this week? I haven’t used that smilie so much in ages. (Maybe it’s just me? shrug) I could always break out the Wally, I suppose.[/sub]

11

We have federal schools? Huh. Things I Didn’t Know of, Vol II

I do think that a year of US History is still pretty much the requirement for most places (I had an extra half year of random govt stuff on top of that–is that common?).

Also, what the flaming hell is a condom class?

And finally, it might interest you to know that George Washington was not the first President, but the first President under the Constitution. John Hanson presided first under the Articles of Confederation, followed by six other dead white guys. Now, I agree that it makes sense to start the numbering from the Constitution, but apparently all of that interesting history can be summed up by “who was the first President of the United States, and you better not say anything other than George Washington?”

Reminds me of the “Apu gets citizenship” Simpsons episode:
Proctor: All right, here’s your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War?

Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter–

Proctor: Wait, wait… just say slavery.

Apu: Slavery it is, sir.

12

Um, today’s grade school students have been under a republican controlled congress for all but the past month of their school careers.

Yes, it’s deplorable, but hardly the fault of evil intentions of either party.

13

…th’ hell have you been, Quicksilver? Heck, I’m a Republican and even I know the dastardly plan of the evil liberals!
Haven’t you ever read “The Protocols of the Elders of Liberalism”?

Here’s the intro: see what YOU think.

Protocol No.1
1…Puting aside fine phrases we shall speak of the significance of each thought: by comparisons and deductions we shall throw light upon surrounding facts.

  1. What I am about to set forth, then, is our system from the two points of view, that of ourselves and that of the masses (i.e., non-liberals).

  2. It must be noted that men with bad instincts are more in number than the good, and therefore the best results in governing them are attained by violence and terrorisation, and not by academic discussions. Every man aims at power, everyone would like to become a dictator if only he could, and rare indeed are the men who would not be willing to sacrifice the welfare of all for the sake of securing their own welfare.

  3. What has retrained the beasts of prey who are called men? What has served for their guidance hitherto?

  4. In the beginnings of the structure of society they were subjected to brutal and blind force; afterwards …to Law, which is the same force, only disguised. I draw the conclusion that by the law of nature right lies in force.

6.Political freedom is an idea but not a fact. This idea one must know how to apply whenever it appears necessary with this bait of an idea to attract the masses of the people to one’s party for the purpose of crushing another who is in authority. This task is rendered easier if the opponent has himself been infected with the idea of freedom, so-called libertarianism, and , for the sake of an idea, is willing to yield some of his power. It is precisely here that the triumph of our theory appears, the slackened reins of government are immediately, by the law of life, caught up and gathered together by a new hand, because the blind might of the nation cannot for one single day exist without guidance, and the new authority merely fits into the place of the old already weakened by our libertarinism!

Me again. Scary, isn’t it! Here’s what it has to say about education:

Destructive Education

  1. Do not suppose for a moment that these statements are empty words; think carefully of the successes we arranged for Darwinism, Marxism, Nietzche-ism. To us Liberals, at any rate, it should be plain to see what a distinguishing importance these directives have had upon the minds of the masses.

  2. It is indispensible for us to take account of the thoughts, characters, tendencies of the nations inorder to avoid making slips in the political and in the direction of administrative affairs. The triumph of our system, of which the component parts of the machinery may be variously disposed according to the temperament of the peoples met on our way. will fail of success if the practical application of it be not based upon a summing up of the lessons of the past in the light of the present.

:eek:

Shocking, ain’t it?!

Fenris

14

Cite please?

And how exactly would a federal government encourage locally/state controlled schools to “take out civics courses”?

15

“Condom Classes”?? Of all the stinking days I chose to skip school. DAMN!!

Was there an diaphragm class too!!! I bet I missed that one too. DAMN, DAMN!!!

And the OP had such a cool username, too. :sign:

16

“True meaning of Independence Day?” There’s something wrong with this survey, or this Colin Campbell person is some kind of anti-American, God-hating liberal. There isn’t a single question about Jesus! Talk about not understanding the true meaning of Independence Day!

17

Lemme guess–it has NOTHING to do with Santa Claus?

18

Gee. I suppose Htlr would be disappointed that Nietzche was a liberal!

19

historically Taunton is a part of Minehead already

20

Hey, my school has civics/government/history classes and one of my friends didn’t even know who won the Revolutionary War. I don’t think it’s necessarily the government’s fault; the fault might rest with the students, and probably some teachers, too.