Students Know Less After Four Years Of College
NYSUN:
Students at many of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a “D+” average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam about civic literacy.
According to a report released yesterday by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the average college senior at the 50 colleges and universities polled did not earn a passing grade.
“At the most expensive colleges, they actually graduate knowing less,” the executive director of the Jack Miller Center at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Michael Ratliff, said. “Colleges and universities are not directing students to the courses that would educate them. We want to know whether after getting $300 billion to do their work, universities are actually educating their students.”
The average foreign student studying in an American college learned nothing about the country’s history and its civic institutions, according to the study.
At universities such as Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Duke, and Berkeley, seniors scored lower on the test, available here, than freshmen, living proof of the broadening relevancy of the old Harvard adage that the university is a storehouse of knowledge because “the freshmen bring so much and the seniors take away so little.”
The low scores indicate a looming crisis in American citizenship, officials at the institute said yesterday, as students who increased their knowledge of American history in college were more likely to register to vote and to participate in civic activities as adults.
The study, titled “Failing Our Students, Failing America,” was conducted by researchers at the department of public policy at the University of Connecticut. The exam was distributed to 14,000 college seniors at 50 institutions of higher education across the country. The researchers hand-picked 25 “elite” schools, and randomly selected 25 schools from all four-year American colleges and universities to poll. The multiple-choice questions were written by specialists in each field.
A professor of American history at Columbia University, Eric Foner, said that a multiple-choice exam testing factual knowledge of history could exaggerate student ignorance of American history.
“The study of history has changed enormously,” Mr. Foner said. “It’s become much more broad and diverse. The study of facts about particular battles has diminished, but maybe students are in a better position to answer questions about the abolition of slavery.”
Some of the questions in the exam were strictly factual, asking students to identify which battle ended Revolutionary War, or the dates when President Lincoln was in office. Other questions tested their understanding of different forms of government, or of the basic theories of philosophers such as Plato.
“History has a pragmatic value,” Mr. Foner said. “You are acquiring skills that are desired by employers — an ability to write, analyze material, and produce your own point of view.”
The chairman of the history department at Princeton University, Jeremy Adelman, said that providing students with a foundation in American history and governance should not be the sole mission of any institution of higher education.
“You have to ask what is the social function of the university?” Mr. Adelman said. “If you’re in chemical engineering, why study history? Should we require students to study history? I don’t think if you polled the history department faculty there would be unanimity on the question.” Students at Princeton are required to take one history class, he said. The course does not have to be in American history.
Less than half of the students who participated identified the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” as a line from the Declaration of Independence. Many of them identified its source as “The Communist Manifesto,” or said that it was an inscription on the Statue of Liberty.
Cornell and Princeton spokeswomen said the institutions would not comment on the report. A Harvard spokesman did not return a call for comment. A spokeswoman for Yale pointed out that history is the most popular major at the college, and that last year, 3,586 students out of about 5,200 students registered to take a history course.
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute was founded in 1953 with William Buckley Jr. as its president. Its mission is to cultivate the values of democracy and of a free society among American college students. This is the third year that the institute has issued the report on civic knowledge among American college students.
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That’s because it ain’t being taught anymore. Instead of learning civics in the Woodsonian sense they are learning Zinnian philosophy that emphasizes hatred of all western culture and history. These idiots haven’t a clue.
That’s what you get in a culture that teaches men how to grow pussies and women how to grow dicks. Couple that with a broken moral compass and you have a society well on its way towards disaster.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:27 amThe real danger to America.
I just put three through college with the youngest graduating ‘06.
I toured schools with them and was shocked at the change over the last 20+ years. They don’t just want the military off campus. They want the U.S. off the campus. You wanna see Marxism and thought control at work then talk to a ‘liberal arts’ or ‘ethnic studies’ professor yourself.
Ended up sending them all through schools in the deep South or Midwest.
http://www.indoctrinate-u.com/intro/
September 19th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I think this is because in school, unless you are majoring in history, you are not likely to take any history courses. If these were the results of history majors then I would be more worried. 
September 19th, 2007 at 8:36 amThis is more a problem with public schools than private universities. American history and civics should be taught in the lower grades but there is usually not enough time to get everything in due to standardized tests and other tests needed to apply to universities.
Students go to private universities to learn about something they want to do as a career, not American history. I am not saying that people should not learn American history, that should be a requirement for everyone when they have some off time. But it is not the universities fault that they are not teaching American history.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:38 amDavid Horowitz (BTW a former member of the Black Party and radical leader of the 60’s), has laid out the case against the nature of indoctrination and anti-americanism being taught in the leftist schools and universities. Evan sayet is another well-spoken, reasoned individual on this subject.
Prof Horowitz has written several books on the subject. And he continues to be drowned out and rejected on liberal college campuses…only to have his points proven, everywhere he goes to speak.
Good points sully. Smart move on your part vis vis taking an active interest in your kids’ education.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:50 amWhy does that surprise anyone - the commie influence that we let free in the 50’s has been busy imposing their Lenin loving professors. We’re raising a bunch of Paris Hilton loving pussy’s in this country, and I guess it will be up to old men and gray hairs like myself to straighten it all out. Sooner or later. I hope it’s sooner.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:55 amyou forgot that there is an evolution in a human life
when your young, you tend to be lefty
we often find the same people at the age of 40 being conservatives
uèh, it’s not new that your people don’t know nothing about history
September 19th, 2007 at 9:07 amHmmm… I was not aware that “civic literacy” isn’t important at the university level and that History 101 might be different for an Engineering major vs. a History major. My bad.
@ Dan: Yeah I thought it important based on things I had heard but seeing and hearing it for myself was ‘eye opening’ to say the least. I’ve since become a big fan of Horowitz’ work.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:14 am“uèh, it’s not new that your people don’t know nothing about history”
umm.. thanks for the report from Dumbfuckistan Frenchy.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:23 amyeah the best possible world though
September 19th, 2007 at 9:30 amnothin better to do then talk shit about america asterisk….eat a dick
September 19th, 2007 at 9:30 amAsterix,
I think it would be better to say that if you were a Liberal as a youngster you move toward the right as you get older. Especially once you have kids. I’m still a liberal but much more toward the center and I even share some conservative values.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:35 amKipp, you got it !
the center is also my position ; depends on the ideas and who are the men who promote these ideas in the both parties ; in fact it would be more convenient to say that we expect that our representatives have some good commun sense
September 19th, 2007 at 9:48 amSully:
“[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man’s life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers
of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.”
– John Adams (An Essay on Man’s Lust for Power, 29 August 1763)
Perfect description of libistan in the EU or in America?
September 19th, 2007 at 9:54 amjust posting:
“nothin better to do then talk shit about america asterisk….eat a dick”
That’s the whole reason why Frenchy is here. She likes it that way. The only question is does she spit or swallow.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:58 amBet she doesn’t even shave her pits?
Dunno about you all, but I’m 20 years old. I didn’t care at first. When I really started looking at politics, I immediately went to the right.
The only lefties I know happen to be completely ignorant of the world around them.
September 19th, 2007 at 10:13 amI’m a college senior at a state university myself. In my US history class we spent two weeks learning about the civil rights movement, two days discussing the industrial revolution, one day on WW2, and about half an hour on the Cold War (including Vietnam). WW1 was only mentioned in passing, I still don’t know anything about it. In my political science class we spent two days talking about Vietnam war protesters and not more than five minutes talking about the war itself. Do professors just think we automatically know most of this stuff or are they teaching just what’s important to them?
September 19th, 2007 at 10:13 amDan
no doubt, your of a very high standard education or do you just express your needs of ejeculation
September 19th, 2007 at 10:45 am“Perfect description of libistan in the EU or in America?”
YEP.
“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?– Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!–All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us.”
Abraham Lincoln
September 19th, 2007 at 10:59 amThe Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions:
Address Before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois
January 27, 1838
“….or do you just express your needs of ejeculation”
Aw c’mon frenchy. Even you’d have to admit that’s important in the “evolution in a human life”.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:03 amSully, you’ve hit it on the nailhead! The fall of power is as often as not the result of interior decay and treason. I’m currently in a Catholic college going for a Master’s in History and I have to say that it’s as liberal (lefty) as any other institution. PSU seems relatively conservative compared to this place. In fact, two of my courses are devoted entirely to how white people screwed over certain groups. And the one professor who teaches my US-Latin American relations course is almost universally described as “arrogant.” I sometimes wonder if they think that white people EVER did anything praiseworthy.
My dad describes this as the worship of the Great Socialist. “Look at what I did for civil rights and humanity and despair!” There’s a whole cult of socialist worship centered on the gods and demi-gods of the liberal pantheon which liberal history perpetuates: the MLK Jrs, the FDRs, the JFKs, the Frederick Douglasses, the Harriet Tubmans, etc. This isn’t to say that these people didn’t do praiseworthy things but their deification has blotted out the achievements of the rest of society and their worship borders on the crass (and in some cases, exceeds it). Their worship leaves a conspicuous void in so many other areas: what about church and religious thought? what about common philosophy? inventors? merchants? musicians? businessmen? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER 90% OF AMERICAN HISTORY!
September 19th, 2007 at 11:31 amAsterix:
no doubt, your of a very high standard education or do you just express your needs of ejeculation.
Naw. I don’t fuck leftist whores like yourself. Fuck over maybe. And yeah, my education is way better than yours.
You got 1 of 2 right. Much like your prickly comments you’re off target again.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:33 amsully:
Excellents points. Another man ahead of his time: Abe Lincoln.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:35 amIn our modern times, if you were to ask anyone what makes America great (especially in the universities and ivory towers), they would give you a blank look. They’d have to think VERY hard to come up with anything like a competent answer. Nobody has a clue why America is special or why the rest of the world is trying to move here. The City on the Hill is now an embarrassment that we try to hide in the closet under piles of clothes. The most competent answer most would come up with is that we are supposed to be nice to everyone (i.e. The Doormat of the World).
When we talk about American Foreign Policy, most people are horrified at the thought that we would act in our own self-interest. Oh My! That we would do what is best for us!! Someone should explain what advantage we gain from wasting our resources on fruitless diplomacy. It makes as much sense as setting up hot dog stands on the South Pole. Yes, aside from Dumbocrats, we do look out for our own best interests. America should be proud of itself but not simply because we have Jay Leno, Bill Clinton, or 50 Cent.
What on earth do we have as a nation which unifies us?! All we have in common is this patch of ground, a flag, and a tangle of bureaucracy. Other than that, our country is split into so many different cultural shards that it hardly surprises me that we can hardly lift a finger in our own defense. We are a nation-state but we have no national pride. We aren’t Italy or Germany or Ireland. There are no national songs, stories, or images which transcend cultural, political and social boundaries. Should any of us be surprised when cries to defend civil rights and America fails to unite The People in defense against the invader in the midst of us? WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO WE ARE.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:51 amColleges seem to be offering more and more “Novelty Classes”. The only history classes I took in college were “The Third Reich” and “History of the Beatles”. Not exactly the best preperation for a civic literacy exam. This report is sad, but not surprising.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:03 pmdoesnt anyone know the phrase “history is doomed to repeat itself”
September 19th, 2007 at 12:05 pmso unless you know history, your going to make the same mistakes over and over.
I am a 5th year senior Air Force ROTC cadet on a large state university campus (27000 student), and i would agree most college students don’t know much about events, past or present. I am in civil engineering, so i only had to take 1 history class, thats right, just one. That was freshman year, so i doubt i would do very well either.
I am also in a freshman ethics class right now, and it is disgusting how the younger ones in school just soak up whatever crap they hear at campus protests and on msnbc.
I have the privilege of wearing my uniform every Tuesday on campus, and some people do not give me the most positive looks walking on campus. I wish those spoiled college kids whose parents pay for eerything (mine don’t and i don’t even have an air force scholarship) need to learn a little about real life and how you can’t sit on your high horse and puke up some canned messege given to you by the hippies crawling all over campus.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:08 pm“Colleges seem to be offering more and more “Novelty Classes”.”
Precisely the point. The agenda is to turn Civics and History or ‘the reasons this country (and its individual liberty) is the most prosperous and beneficial to its citizens in the course of humanity’ into irrelevant novelty to advance Socialist/Marxist worldviews.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:14 pm@Humble Janoslav
“In our modern times, if you were to ask anyone what makes America great (especially in the universities and ivory towers), they would give you a blank look.”
Well, not “anyone”.
But you’re quite right. If you have no understanding of how the civil and religious liberties you enjoy today were created and have been perpetuated then you will be ill suited to continue perpetuating them.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:35 pmIn other words… the ‘leftist’ agenda at the university level.
I got a sense of that last Saturday in DC. Except for being trapped on the train with cell-phone psychos that grind their voices out from behind their noses I rarely come into contact with young people. I did Saturday and I often felt I was talking to a wall. The world was manufactured in 1980.
September 19th, 2007 at 1:17 pmI was listening to a lecture by Raymond Ibrahim and he described the leftist agenda against the right in this country as a “soft civil war”. The host of the show asked him if he thought that this “soft civil war” could escalate into something more virulent. And he said that that was a possibility. I would agree. This shit is gone on way too long. Sooner or later, this “soft civil war” will turn into something akin the 68 riots.
Envision if you will a Republican victory in ‘08 and a Senate that goes back to majority Republican control. Watch the shit fly, if that happens.
Now, me personally, I’m game. I’d especially like to catch up with the weasels that desecrated the VN War Memorial.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:04 pmSooner or later someone is going to get caught. Not by the cops. But by vets. That person better know Jesus if they do get caught. Know what I mean Vern?
Pat, photoshop the signs to read Homeless and down on my luck
September 19th, 2007 at 3:15 pmLook at the losers in the pic. Bet every one of them is living in their parent’s basement. Or living off the sweat of someone else’s brow. Spoiled, mindless, fucktards.
September 19th, 2007 at 7:09 pm“Look at the losers in the pic.”
That’s what happens when you stop giving out F’s in middle and high school.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:15 pmThey get to college stupid like that.