The Cold War refers to a spot at the North Pole. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1892. John F. Kennedy and his son, John Jr., were one of the two father/son pairs to serve as president. That's American history -- according to some local high school students. How about the "date which will live in infamy"? Well, not exactly. Two of 10 high school students interviewed could name the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Students' ignorance of their country's history comes as little surprise to many educators. What disturbs them more is that schools are doing little to change that, they said. "There is a crisis out there," said Jack Bovee, past president of the Florida Association of Social Studies Supervisors. "We've lost the second generation of young Americans who don't know a lot of our country, our economic system ... and nobody cares."
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"To have a well-rounded education and to have students understand what it is to be a citizen, they need to know their place in history. They need to know their rights," said Francis Holleran, Charlotte County schools' curriculum specialist for social sciences.
The teachers interviewed are expressing another example of America's greatest resource, our children, are being largely ignored. And another unanticipated consequence of "No Child Left Behind" will only make this problem worse. Social Studies is not part of the test.
But there is worse trouble for America's future. We are falling behind the world in engineering and education. The Bush Administration is too busy lining the pockets of his "base" and they are shipping all of their investments and jobs overseas where labor and materials are cheap. All of this is good for America, says the Bush Campaign.
The Bush Administration is squandering the future of America for greed. We need to return to American Values in 2008 and elect a Democrat to ensure our children's future.
Complete Article
Article published Mar 28, 2005
Social studies becoming an unintended casualty
By Laura Green
NORTH PORT -- The Cold War refers to a spot at the North Pole. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1892. John F. Kennedy and his son, John Jr., were one of the two father/son pairs to serve as president. That's American history -- according to some local high school students.
How about the "date which will live in infamy"? Well, not exactly. Two of 10 high school students interviewed could name the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Students' ignorance of their country's history comes as little surprise to many educators.
What disturbs them more is that schools are doing little to change that, they said.
"There is a crisis out there," said Jack Bovee, past president of the Florida Association of Social Studies Supervisors.
"We've lost the second generation of young Americans who don't know a lot of our country, our economic system ... and nobody cares."
Instead of reinvesting in teaching young people about their nation's unique formation, critics said, schools are marginalizing a subject once considered part of any school's core curriculum -- on the same level as English, math and science.
"To have a well-rounded education and to have students understand what it is to be a citizen, they need to know their place in history. They need to know their rights," said Francis Holleran, Charlotte County schools' curriculum specialist for social sciences.
"Social studies is slowly being pushed out the curriculum."
The root of the problem, educators said, is that the state test doesn't include a section on social studies.
"You teach what's tested," Holleran said.
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test measures students' knowledge of every other core subject. Those test scores dictate everything from whether a student will advance to the next grade to whether a school earns reward money.
State officials say social studies is part of the test, because many of the reading passages are pulled from material taught in social studies.
But educators say the teaching of geography, history and other social studies have been omitted from virtually every concrete measurement of a student's performance.
In 2003, the state Department of Education approved a three-year high school diploma that didn't require students to take American history or government.
The Legislature stepped in, mandating both courses after U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, proposed a federal law to cut education funding from states that didn't explicitly require both courses.
The federal bill failed, but it made its point in Davis' home state.
Holleran, president of the state organization representing social studies teachers, hears from teachers across the state complaining about how social studies is being shortchanged.
Students are pulled from their classes for extra math or reading help leading up to state testing. Class pictures and pep rallies are scheduled during social studies, they said.
"We've had people tell us their principals say 'Our number one priority is reading. Our number two is math. Our number three is science and, if we get time, we'll do social studies,'" Holleran said.
Teachers: Legislature no help
David Schimek first noticed the pull away from social studies eight years ago when he taught at Murdock Middle School.
The Charlotte County school was among those field- testing the FCAT. Though it would be several years before the state began using the scores to grade schools, the sense of anxiety was building.
Schimek's principal looked at the test, saw that social studies wasn't on it and came to the conclusion many other principals would eventually reach. He cut a social studies slot to make way for a test preparation teacher.
Schimek's position wasn't in danger, he said. But it gave him his first unpleasant glimpse of what was to come for social studies.
"I saw the writing on the wall and said, 'I don't want to be a part of this,'" he said.
Now at Sarasota Middle School, Schimek works in the school's gifted program. The staff is committed to teaching a balanced curriculum, including social studies, he said. But then he also teaches students who are less likely to fail the FCAT and need extra tutoring.
By last year, so many schools began to question the role of social studies education in Florida that the state Department of Education issued a memo on the subject to school superintendents.
"The Florida Department of Education views the inclusion of social studies in K-12 curriculum as an absolute necessity in preparing students to act as responsible citizens in our democratic society," wrote Chancellor Jim Warford.
Despite state officials' reassurance, social studies teachers are banding together to raise the profile of their subject.
Identical House and Senate bills requiring schools to consider social studies scores before promoting students from one grade to the next have gained teachers' support. The bill has failed in several previous years.
Some social studies teachers aren't confident this year will be any different.
Creating a measuring stick
Many teachers also support a movement for a national history test to measure how students compare from one state to another.
In 2006, a sampling of students around the country will take the history portion of the National Assessment for Educational Progress. NAEP tests different subjects on a rotating basis.
The last time history was tested, Florida didn't participate, Bovee said. State officials complained that the test was scheduled too close to the time of the FCAT, he said.
Some Florida teachers also want to revise the state standards outlining what must be taught in social studies. The Sunshine State Standards, as they are called, are too vague, they said.
One third-grade standard, for example, says students will know "significant social and political events that led to and characterized the American Revolution."
Which events are taught is up to the district or teacher to decide.
One teacher might focus on the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party, and another the Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
The result is that students in different classes learn about different aspects of history.
Students interviewed for this story seemed to have little common knowledge of American history.
The Herald-Tribune surveyed 10 high school students at random, asking them to recall dates, historical figures and events in American history from the time the colonists declared their independence from England to the present.
Questions focused on common knowledge. Some were simple, such as one asking the significance of the year 1492. While most of the students recalled the childhood rhyme: "Columbus sailed the ocean blue," four didn't.
One student thought the date referred to the signing of an important bill. Which bill? She didn't remember.
Other questions proved more difficult to answer. Only one student could name the suffragettes as the group of the women who fought for the right to vote.
Students also had trouble recalling that Richard Nixon was the only U.S. president to resign.
One of the 10 students answered all the questions correctly in the purely unscientific survey.
Local students aren't alone in their lack of knowledge of history.
American students consistently rank behind their peers in developed nations on tests of geography and history. Even when current events dictate the content, Americans plead ignorance.
As American soldiers were at war in Afghanistan in 2002 and images of air strikes played on television sets across the country, Americans were unable to identify the country that formerly harbored al-Qaida and was ruled by the Taliban, in a 2002 survey commissioned by National Geographic.
Of 300 18- to 24-year-olds in nine countries, 85 percent of Americans could not locate Afghanistan, Iraq or Israel on a map.
They fared no better when tested on trivia of their own country. Americans placed dead last among citizens of the nine countries in estimating the U.S. population. Only 51 percent could locate New York on a map.
Sparking a love for history
One way to focus more attention on social studies would be to add it to the FCAT. But teachers are conflicted about pushing for it.
"It's a double-edged sword," Schimek said. "On the one hand, we're definitely second- class because the content we teach doesn't count. On the other hand, exactly because of that, we have a lot more freedom and latitude in social studies to explore our curriculum in-depth."
Smart social studies teachers take advantage of that freedom and allow their students to delve into their own interests in history.
North Port High School teacher Worth David encouraged his honors students this year to find something in history that interested them by requiring them to enter the national history fair. His students embraced the program and this year's theme of communication with creativity.
One student with a love for silent movies convinced her group to create an exhibit showing how Charlie Chaplin's movies communicated with the world. Another student focused on how the Navajo language was used as code during World War II.
Alishia Prescott won first place in the individual exhibit category for her presentation "The Muppets Communicate."
Prescott, 17, said she was glued to the television as a child when Jim Henson's puppet show was on. Now years later, nostalgia fueled her analysis of the show as a mode of communication.
The Muppets, she said, was "one of the first attempts at talking to children with television."
North Port High won eight of the 14 awards in the high school competition, sending those students to the state level.
David said he hopes the experience taught them that history isn't only lifeless facts, dates and names of Civil War battles.
"Don't let anybody tell you that history is boring," David said. "It's fun. It's a good story. At the very least, it's a good story."
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