Fewer than half of American teenagers who were asked basic questions about history and literature during a recent telephone survey knew when the Civil War was fought, and one-quarter thought that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World sometime after 1750, not in 1492.
The results of the survey, released Tuesday, demonstrate that a significant proportion of American teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature, according to the group that commissioned it.
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I would be very surprised to discover that Canadian teenagers fared any better, go ahead, ask a teenager if he or she knows the date of Confederation? Ask them if they know when Columbus sailed? Ask them if they know how he was rewarded, and how he treated his subjects? Ask them if they know what the Holocaust is? Ask them if they know anything of Hiroshima or Nagasaki…. don’t bother asking them for dates, it will just frustrate you.
It really should scare us how little entire generations know of their own history, or that of others - how many great dangers are out there just waiting to be re-enacted because they have been forgotten?
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Celebrity Smack, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
You don’t even need to go that far back. I had a couple of anti-war kids from my Church try to tell me that Harper was the one to send Canadian troops to Afghanistan.
What’s even worse than total lack of knowledge is the snippet of fact that becomes national mythology. The whole “Canadians burned down the White House” type silliness for example.
A little knowlege can be a dangerous thing too.