A survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut was given to more than 500 seniors at 55 of the best colleges and universities in the United States.

Designed to measure students' knowledge of American history and government, it consisted of multiple choice questions on topics including the Magna Carta, Monroe Doctrine, Battle of Yorktown and Battle of the Bulge.The survey results were pitiful.Sixty-five percent of the students - from such schools including Yale, Northwestern and Bowdoin - failed to "pass" the test, and only one student answered all 34 questions correctly. Most didn't know the specifics about America's major wars, and among all of the responders, there was no significant difference found between those with history majors and those pursuing other fields.When only 23 percent of college seniors are able to correctly identify James Madison as the "Father of the Constitution" while 98 percent know that Snoop Dogg is a rapper, then the system is in need of more than a little tweaking.The old-school principles of Patrick J. Deneen, a professor of political theory at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on the history of American political thought, religion and politics, and literature and politics, are enlightening.In his article, "Res Idiotica," Deneen notes that the problem with today's youth is that they don't know what liberty costs and can't identify between good and right. They have no sense of what "exceptionalism" means, how history got us to where we are today, and why so much blood has been sacrificed to preserve it.This is no fault of their own, Deneen notes. Students today are trained to not care, and they have learned exactly what we have asked of them."Our students' ignorance is not a failing of the educational system - it is its crowning achievement," Deneen writes. "Efforts by several generations of philosophers and reformers and public policy experts whom our students (and most of us) know nothing about have combined to produce a generation of know-nothings."The pervasive ignorance of our students is not a mere accident or unfortunate but correctable outcome, if only we hire better teachers or tweak the reading lists in high school," he continues. "It is the consequence of a civilizational commitment to civilizational suicide. The end of history for our students signals the End of History for the West."The texts and resources used by teachers in our classrooms to inspire students during their formative years are vital. Sen. Joseph Lieberman proposed a House-Senate Resolution on American History Education, which calls for the strengthening of American history requirements at all levels of the educational system.Lieberman said that with a generation of leaders and citizens leaving college with little knowledge of their heritage and the democratic values that have long sustained our country, we can't ignore the role of our public schools in contributing to this historical ignorance.With Betsy DeVos as the new education secretary, Common Core State Standards, developed in 2009 in an effort to create more rigorous K-12 curriculum guidelines in math and literacy, may be on the chopping block. Pennsylvania is counted among the 44 states with the standards, although the Keystone State made adjustments to the National Common Core standards to better fit the needs of its students.Conservatives have long targeted attempts to "federalize" the curriculum, and Common Core opponents now include such national figures as Ted Cruz and Chris Christie. Cruz believes every word of Common Core should be repealed. Christie, who was once a vocal supporter of the Common Core in 2014, has said his views have "evolved."Upon accepting the position as the new education secretary, DeVos, a strong proponent of charter schools, issued a statement clarifying that she is not a supporter of Common Core, "period."Curriculumwise, schools and students around the country can expect some big changes. Many conservatives, concerned about how American history is treated in today's textbooks and how it's being taught in the classroom, won't be shedding any tears over the loss of Common Core.They point to those standards for coring out many of the basic facts of American history for almost a decade.By Jim Zbick |

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