There is a song from the 1960s with a lyric that starts, “Don’t know much about history . . .” The song features a young man who hasn’t paid much attention in school but has figured out the girl he wants to be with.
Ironically, the song writer’s admission is true of even those Boomers and subsequent generations of public-school students who did pay attention in school. American elementary and secondary education went into a free fall after World War II, as plummeting SAT scores attested.
In an even more serious irony, what was taught in American public education was always intended to be just a starting point for life-long learning. Today, Americans are committed to life-long entertainment instead.
When our knowledge of history slides into the abyss, it turns out it is not just government and politics we are clueless about. What we believe about God and religion, war and peace, business and law, family and science is weak or outright wrong as well.
The songwriter Sam Cooke knew he was ignorant. We don’t even know that.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross
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