Failing grades in history
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007A new study shows American colleges and universities are abjectly failing when it comes to teaching students about our country’s history.
The Intercollegiate Studies Institutes gave a 60-question, multiple-choice test to 14,000 students at 50 institutions of higher learning across the country — including the University of Georgia and the Georgia College and State University.
Nationally, students scored a big, fat “F” on their knowledge of history, answering an average of 54.2 percent of the questions correctly. At UGA, scores were above the national average, though not by much. UGA students had an average of 57.76 percent, while Georgia College students had a dismal 43.68 average.
(The test is online and you can take it yourself; I scored a passing grade of 70 percent.)
Of the colleges that participated, Harvard students had the highest average, 69.5 percent. UGA was 17th on the list; Georgia College ranked 43rd.
What does this show? Are we now at the point where we’re essentially teaching kids to pass standardized tests? Is history even relevant and meaningful to kids in the Internet Age? (more…)
