A recent study done by the American Revolution Center found that 83% of American’s could not score higher then 44% on a test about the American revolution. That is a failing grade for the majority of all Americans! This should not be an area we are willing to accept a bell curve grade on. Is this a test you could pass? Is this a test people even care if they pass anymore?
“In general, the Survey questions varied in difficulty, but most were designed to assess basic knowledge of the American Revolution and its enduring legacy. At the end of the survey, several contemporary questions were asked in an attempt to understand the magnitude of difference between knowledge of popular culture and knowledge of our nation’s founding history and principles.”
One of the most interesting points called out by this study is that 90% of American’s believe it is important for us to know the history and founding principle of the American revolution, yet almost all of us cannot pass a test on what those principles and history are.
“Sixty percent of Americans could correctly identify the number of children in reality-TV show couple Jon and Kate Gosselin’s household (eight), but more than one-third did not know the century in which the American Revolution took place.
Many more Americans knew that entertainer Michael Jackson sang “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” than knew that the Bill of Rights is part of the United States Constitution.”
Dr. Bruce Cole, President and CEO of American Revolution Center, writes a stirring message at the beginning of the paper I encourage you to read. How can we expect to control our government when we don’t understand our government? This was one of the cornerstones our government was created for. A government by the people for the people.
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.” - Thomas Jefferson
The study has a number of shocking revelations in it. It revels that not only do we not understand the revolution but half the people surveyed did not even know the chronological order in which it took place (many listed the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation or War of 1812 as happening before the revolution).
“More than 50 percent of Americans wrongly attributed the quote “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” to either George Washington, Thomas Paine, or President Barack Obama, when it is in fact a quote from Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto.”
How can we seriously expect Americans to elect good leaders in their country when they attribute a quote by one of the founders of communism to one of the American Presidents? This combined with the other finding that 11% of Americans would give themselves an A for their knowledge of the American Revolution and 3 out of 4 would give themselves a B or C, is a truly scary proposition for this country.
How can we as a nation expect to elect qualified and deserving people into office if we don’t really understand the founding principles of this nation? How can we elect a leader of a free nation when 50% of us think a founding principle of communism sounds like something an American president would say?
The PDF for this study includes a lot of very interesting statistics about different questions and how American’s value different rights. In reviewing all the results a few things stood out to me. When asked how important a given right is Democrats are almost always lower in saying that right is essential or important, except for when it comes to the right of privacy in which Democrats are a little higher. Yet, on the right not to have your property searched and seized Republicans are higher (I would really like to talk to these people who say “not that important”).
To the credits of Americans, when asked after the survey if they would like to learn more about the American Revolution most said yes (maroon is yes and turquoise is no). It is interesting to see what groups had the lowest “yes” responses though.
It is very important that we understand the history of this nation and the principles upon which it was founded. May this be a wake up call to all of us. May we understand these principles and may we demand more clarity out of our government to make sure our elected officials are working to support these principles.
