Blogs by David A. Schwinghammer
Why Don't Our Kids Know History and Geography?
2/23/2016 7:40:05 AM
Was Richard Dreyfus right when he said American students aren't taught anything?
I caught the tail end of a Richard Dreyfus (who's playing Bernie Madoff on Broadway) appearance on the Stephen Colbert show last night, Monday, Feb. 22, 2016.
Among other things Dreyfus said our students weren't learning anything in our schools. He may have meant Geography and especially American History. They certainly don't know Civics. If they did, American voters wouldn't be continually suckered by the Republican claim that they protect the Constitution. The Constitution is a very vague document. The "living document" people claim this was done purposefully to give us some latitude as time goes by. There's even a clause that says so. Nyah, Antonin Scalia! Thomas Jefferson said as much in Jon Meacham biography, THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ART OF POWER, in 1816 well after he'd left the White House. Basically Jefferson said the Founders were young and naive when they wrote the Constitution. Times had drastically changed in the 29 years since it was written. If they'd changed that much in 29 years, how much have they changed in 229?
Democrats have called for a core curriculum which would include the above. Republicans hate the idea. Well, they're for states' rights and that would disallow the teaching of Intelligent Design and disregarding sex education. I was waylaid by a parent who didn't want his daughter reading Greek mythology. Republican also love homeschooling, when any schooling occurs at all. It's so much easier to brainwash your children. Scalia approved that one, too.
Okay, let me get to the point. Why don't kids remember American History and geography? Dreyfus was wrong on that point. They are taught both in elementary school for sure; they are generally taught American History again in their sophomore year of high school. They are taught Civics in ninth grade, when they're not sleeping. So, why don't they remember any of it when they enter the voting booth? The key word is reinforcement. If you really want to learn something, you relearn it and relearn it again. Also, the first time you were taught, you were graded on the archaic A, B, C, D, F method. What should happen is mastery tests. If you don't get 80% on the test, you take it again until you do. And how about an overall general knowledge test that everybody takes before they're issued a high schoo diploma?
Now we have a much better chance of remembering where we came from when we're 35. But that's seventeen years later, and if you've been watching reality TV too much, you've lost a lot of brain cells. We can see the evidence in the Trump campaign. But you have to WANT to remember. I wanted to remember the presidents. I am now going on 72, and I still remember them. How? Every once in a while I go over them in my mind. Sometimes I get stuck, but I eventually remember that Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and the 24th president. I also wanted to remember the state capitals. Oh for the days when that was a category on "Jeopardy". If I tried to list them now, I'd probably forget a state here and there as I never developed a mnemonic to help me remember their order, such as when they became a state or dividing them into regions.
I am also very proud of the fact that I can balance my checking account in my head. I've never used a calculator. So that's a good way to reinforce arithmetic. I also used to do the New York Times crossword and the Cryptoquip in the MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE. I also read two newspapers a day and watch an hour and a half of news. And I'm an eclectic reader as well, having written over 600 reviews on Amazon. I guess what I'm trying to say is we need to work harder at making our kids life-long learners. I just read that it's not true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Dave Schwinghammer's Fargo-esque novel, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available on Authorsden and at Amazon.com, new and used.
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