Americans Need to UNDERSTAND History – so as not to be “condemned to repeat it.”

Earlier today I ran across an article by Robert Morley, writing in the October 6, 2009 edition of the trumpet.com. Mr. Morley is British and decries the sad state of historical knowledge in “Twittering Away a Nation.” George Santayana is credited with saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” So true. However, if you know nothing about the past, how can you remember it? A knowledge of history is key to our society, and it’s much too easy to sop ourselves with the foolish idea that history is just about the past. Sure – it’s about the past, but by careful examination, we can help shape a better future. A better future for not only ourselves, but our children, grandchildren, and for many generations to come.

Following is a teaser for the article that set me to thinking that we need to make sure our young people have a solid grounding in American History. I’m sad to say that it needs to be a better grounding than they’re getting in most of our schools today.

Politicians are shaking up the education system. Schools Secretary Ed Balls recently recommended that schools in Britain stop teaching children about the Romans, Vikings, Napoleon or the Second World War. Instead, under the controversial blueprint, pupils would learn practical skills such as how to use social networking sites like Twitter.

Forget history, it is more important to Twitter! What a disgrace. It is almost as if those in power want a nation of idiots.

The situation in the United States is just as shameful. A 1999 survey of college seniors at 55 elite colleges, from Princeton to Stanford, revealed that only 22 percent knew that the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people” are from the Gettysburg Address. Forty percent did not know that the Civil War took place in the second half of the 19th century. Twenty-five percent thought the pilgrims signed the Magna Carta on the Mayflower.  When asked who commanded American forces at Yorktown, the most frequent answer was Ulysses S. Grant.

Read Robert Morley’s “Twittering Away the Nation.”