Secondary Problems: why idiots with no historical background threaten to drag us backwards

[Zorra]

6. Amen. Most of the idiotic arguments and opinions concerning political issues

that I see or hear are put forth by people who are basically clueless about history.

They have almost no clue about the events that happened in the past, events that led the world to be the way that it is today

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

Karl Marx

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Thomas Jefferson

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.

Martin Luther king

Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.

Winston Churchill

A New Blueprint for History Education

History education is being sidelined throughout the country, especially at the K–12 level. The recurrent standards controversy over what part of our national history should be taught and when (as in the cases of Texas and North Carolina) should not overshadow a larger cause for concern. Over the past few years, counties, districts, and schools have begun to implement plans to reduce or eliminate history courses in the lower grades. When districts decide to drop history from their curriculum, administrators assert that they must do so because their students read and write far below grade level. To address and remedy this lack of proficiency, districts direct teachers to focus exclusively on English-Language Arts instruction, a focus that will almost surely intensify with the near national adoption of the Common Core State Standards.

Improving student literacy certainly merits attention. However, dropping history instruction from the curriculum will not ensure that reading comprehension and writing ability improve. Indeed, history must be part of the curriculum if the goal is to improve student literacy: research as well as educators' empirical experience suggest that studying history improves a student's ability to read analytically, think critically, and write effectively. Moreover, the discipline of history prepares students to take part in a pluralistic democracy by requiring them to consider multiple perspectives, analyze and interpret information, and draw conclusions from evidence.1

....Many other states evaluate schools through similar federal/state accountability systems. In general, these scores focus on two NCLB measures: reading and mathematics. Schools with student test scores that do not meet goals established under these systems risk losing funds and autonomy. To improve school ranking, schools therefore focus heavily on these two disciplines, with the result that administrators often eliminate history from the curriculum entirely, or reduce it to as little as 30 minutes per week.2 While the United States Department of Education is currently reviewing state applications to the NCLB law, few view these waivers as a serious challenge to our discipline's marginalization.