The National Assessment of Educational Progress tests student knowledge in various subjects every few years. In 2010, only 20 percent of fourth-graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 12 percent of high school seniors were considered grade-level proficient in American history.
—Andrea Neal (for more read the whole thing).
But they have great self-esteem, and know that Muslims discovered the New World.
Yet those students are well prepared for sexual activity and knowing how to deal with standardized tests. I’d say we have achieved something unique in the annals of history, well worth forgetting everyone and everything before us.
While I despair of their future, some of us still raise our children.
Amen, BlueOntario. I know the feeling.
I saw a delightful cartoon the other day that summed it up memorably. There was a school-age boy sitting on a stool in front of a blackboard with a dunce cap on his head, looking forlorn. And the caption read:
“100 years ago, Latin and Greek were taught in high school. Today, remedial English is taught in college.”
Ouch. All too true. But at least some of the sting is taken out of that jibe when we recall that a century ago, only a minority of the population actually went to high school.
David Handy+