Skool Daze….
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There’s a lot of concern about the education our kids are getting these days in elementary school.
A recent reader’s letter to “USA Today” by retired educator named Mara Jambor lamented the fact that under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) an unintended consequence was that there was “a lack of attention given to social studies, science and the arts.” She postulated that it was resulting in growing numbers of kids “who know nothing about our history or about what makes the world go round.”
Mara, I’m sorry to report that it’s been going on much longer than NCLB (as the educators like to refer to it)…
Back in the mid 80’s and early 90’s, I was an adjunct professor (that means part-time and poorly paid) at a college in Boston that specialized in journalism and communications. And, the lack of basic knowledge I found among my students was stunning.
Early on in the semester I’d give the kids a little quiz. I invite you to take it now.
(click this map to get a larger, printable version)
I’d ask the students to:
- Locate Iowa, Idaho, Colorado and Nebraska on this map..
- Name the Great Lakes.
- The capitol of South Dakota is ______.
- What is Helena and where is it?
- True or False. The Declaration of Independence gives us the right to free speech.
- Name a sub-continent.
Invariably—most of the kids got ALL the state’s wrong.
They’d usually get two or three Great Lakes—but not know them all.
They usually couldn’t answer questions 3, 4 and 6 at all….
And by sheer 50/50 guesswork, some would come up with the right answer to number 5…
Many would get mad—and tell me that the Quiz was “way too hard.”
And I’d have to admit to these college students that I cheated a bit… Because all the questions came from 5th grade history and geography texts.
By the way—how’d YOU do on the test? Still not finished—OK, I’ll give you more time. I’ll post the answers tomorrow…
But, no cheating now!
—Steve
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Here’s a great link for having some fun with your state map skills: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_Intermed_State15s_500.html (A friend of mine got a whopping SIX of them right when I showed it to her.) You’re right – the lack of basic knowledge is downright scary.
I’m interested to get your take on that question #5, though.
Nothing in the Declaration (or any other document) actually GIVES us the right to free speech. Congress is forbidden to make any law PROHIBITING the right we already have (but not in the Declaration.)
P.S. The 5 Great Lakes are Jordan, Johnson, Falls, Shelley, and Norman (for the Piedmont). Says so in the Constitution
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BETWEEN THE LINES REPLIES:
Rick– i tried the game… and i only scored an 85 per cent….it’s NOT as easy as you’d think when you’re looking at a blank map.. the game told me my misses averaged about 38 miles… a great brain tease for anyone who wants to test their skills… thanks for suggesting that site…
–steve