Teens losing touch with common cultural and historical references

Twenty-five years after the federal report A Nation at Risk challenged U.S. public schools to raise the quality of education, the study finds high schoolers still lack important historical and cultural underpinnings of "a complete education." And, its authors fear, the nation's current focus on improving basic reading and math skills in elementary school might only make matters worse, giving short shrift to the humanities ? even if children can read and do math.

"If you think it matters whether or not kids have common historical touchstones and whether, at some level, we feel like members of a common culture, then familiarity with this knowledge matters a lot," says American Enterprise Institute researcher Rick Hess, who wrote the study.

To some in our society, nationalism or any commonality of a culture is not very PC. A vast majority of experts and research says otherwise. It is actually GOOD for kids to have some common teachings and beliefs. Add another item to the list of where our public schools are failing.

Among 1,200 students surveyed:
•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.
•52% could identify the theme of 1984.
•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.
In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.

It seems the traditional items are no longer taught, giving way to whatever is the hot topic to liberal teachers. I'm sure in 5 years if you ask questions about global warming kids will know that, yet probably not know who the first President of the United States was.