by Jan Goehring
A Marist poll released last Friday shows that not all Americans understand why we celebrate the Fourth of July. Among the 1,000 people surveyed, close to 25 percent did not know from what country the United States declared independence. Three-quarters remembered the answer is Britain. Only 58 percent knew that our country declared independence in 1776. Younger adults scored even worse. Thirty-one percent of those under age 30 knew the correct year.
These results are not all that surprising. The National Assessment of Educational Progress: U.S. History, released last month, showed that only 20 percent of fourth-graders, 17 percent of eighth-graders and 12 percent of twelfth-graders performed at or above the proficient level on the 2010 assessment. The test measures how well students know facts of American history, evaluate historical information, and understand change and continuity over time. The good news, however, is that scores have improved since 1994.
Reference May 23 Thicket "States continue
to grapple.....
Perhaps the children should focus on the 9th paragraph of the original document?
"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."
Posted by: James Kester | July 06, 2011 at 06:33 AM