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Nation's future lets past slip away
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer It's a Wednesday morning inside Andy Shaw's U.S. history class at Clearwater High School. Shaw paces in front of the board. He has just asked the question, "What does the judicial branch do?" He is waiting for someone to answer. The question hangs in the room. He tries a hint. "You hear it all the time on the news," says Shaw, who is in his sixth year of teaching. "Such and such was decided unconstitutional." He paces some more and stares at the class full of juniors. Some stare back. Others gaze down at their notebooks or their shoes. Then, from the rear of the room, 16-year-old Travis Costello sits up in his chair, straightens his black Metallica sweatshirt, and says, "They interpret the laws." "Do you see why this is important?" Shaw says, encouraged. More silence. It's a typical day inside a typical high school class on U.S. history, a subject many students find irrelevant and, worst of all, boring. The subject has been getting more attention since President Bush began a federal initiative in September to improve U.S. history and civics education. That initiative includes offering teacher training grants and student essay contests, placing historical documents online and convening a White House forum. The push comes after the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that only 43 percent of high school seniors had a basic grasp of the subject -- a statistic unchanged since the test was last given in 1994. Fewer than half the students could tell the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution or name which part of government passes laws. The knowledge gap raises the question of whether schools are adequately teaching U.S. history. Are teachers properly trained? Do students spend enough time on the subject? "This is more than academic failure," Bush said last month. "Ignorance of American history and civics weakens our sense of citizenship." Caitlin Moseley, a junior at Robinson High School in Tampa, said many of her peers didn't share her appreciation of history. "I had someone ask me the other day, 'Are we going to World War IV with Iraq?' " she said. "Can you believe that?" * * * Stanford University education professor Sam Wineburg said adults have complained since at least the early 1900s that young people don't know enough about history. He says students need to do more than just memorize facts: They must understand people, places and events. "It's not that we are not teaching this information," said Wineburg, author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past. "It's a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum." If government leaders want reform, he said, teacher education must be improved, with more rigorous requirements to certify history teachers. Hillsborough County applied and received a $1-million, three-year federal grant last year to improve its teaching of history. Elementary and middle school teachers who are selected take an online video course, attend a summer institute and receive an all-expense paid trip to Colonial Williamsburg's Living History Museum in Virginia. "You can't teach kids history if you don't know it," said Hillsborough elementary social studies supervisor Daryl Saunders, who wrote the grant application. The Florida Council of Social Studies, a teacher organization, hired a lobbyist this year to try to sway lawmakers into making their subject part of the FCAT, alongside reading, writing and math. "It's the old saying, what's tested is taught," said Pinellas Park High School teacher Ralph Egolf, past president of the statewide organization. "I guess what we're looking for is a little more respect." * * * In many Florida school districts, students get bits and pieces of U.S. history beginning in kindergarten. In Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, students get more focused lessons starting in fifth grade. Many teachers, however, struggle to get through all the material. There just isn't enough time, they say. Hunter's Green Elementary teacher Kit Woods said she only gets halfway through the book each year after spending 30 minutes a day on the subject in class. "I only get through the American revolution," the Tampa teacher said. "There needs to be more time committed." School districts vary in their middle school history curriculum. In Pinellas, students get two years of geography and one year of Florida history but no U.S. history. In Hillsborough, sixth- and seventh-graders learn geography. In eighth grade, they learn U.S. history from precolonial times through Reconstruction. U.S. history picks up again in the 11th grade from Reconstruction to the present day. The state requires three social studies credits for students to graduate high school: a half-year each of economics and government, one year of world history and one year of U.S. history. Some teachers say it's not enough. "I've had foreign language students do better on their midterm exams than kids who have never left Florida," said Johnny Walters, the social studies department chairman at Robinson High. He advocates a minimum of two years of U.S. history. Robinson teacher Dan Stuckart said some students had told him the U.S. should drop nuclear bombs on Afghanistan. "A lot of them don't understand how complicated these issues are," Stuckart said. "They don't understand the past." Some teachers say the FCAT has squeezed history instruction nearly out the door. "We have been pressed in education to teach reading, writing, math. Reading, writing, math. Reading, writing, math," said Sharen Hunziker, a Hunter's Green Elementary social studies teacher. "Isn't it also important to know what your rights are?" asked Clearwater High teacher Linda Smith. Many teachers say it's not enough to have students read a textbook and answer questions at the end, and it's a sure way to reinforce the idea that history is boring. "History should be filled with lively debates and discussions," said Alan Kay, a history teacher at Dunedin High. Clearwater High's Shaw tries to relate history to today. He uses movies like The Patriot to spice up lessons and get students thinking. "Part of it is, they want to be entertained all the time," Shaw said. In a recent class, Jessica Schriver, 16, sat in the front row as Shaw explained how two of the first Bill of Rights were left out of the Constitution. "Why?" Schriver asked, as a classmate teased her for always asking why. "I just want to know," Schriver said. "I just want to learn." Shaw didn't say so, but it was obvious that he was pleased with the girl's curiosity -- and the lack of silence in his classroom. -- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com . Sample questions from the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress:FOURTH GRADE 1. Passage: We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ... The passage comes from the? a. Constitution b. Mayflower Compact c. Declaration of Independence d. Articles of Confederation Correct answer: (c); 46 percent answered correctly. * * * 2. Which part of the government of the United States is responsible for passing laws? a. President b. Supreme Court c. Congress d. State Department Correct answer: (c); 26 percent answered correctly. * * * 3. The first Spanish explorers who reached the Americas were looking for? a.) a route to Alaska b.) a new route to Asia c.) proof that the world was flat d.) new land for farming Correct answer: (b); 25 percent answered correctly. * * * 4. To achieve his goals, Martin Luther King, Jr., told people to? a.) peacefully disobey laws that were not fair b.) ignore politics and participate in religion c.) move away from countries where they were not treated fairly d.) protest by not voting Correct answer: (a); 49 percent answered correctly. EIGHTH GRADE1. The phrase "Jim Crow" refers to laws that: a. made liquor illegal b. enforced racial segregation c. restricted immigration to the United States d. protected the environment Correct answer: (b); 35 percent answered correctly. * * * 2. Many people opposed ratification of the Constitution without a Bill of Rights because they: a. were afraid the states would be too powerful without a bill of rights b. thought that a bill of rights would strengthen the President's power c. did not want the national government to have an army d. feared that the new national government would deny people their rights Correct answer: (d); 54 percent answered correctly. * * * 3. Why was Roger Williams forced to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony? a.) He claimed that the Puritan government had no right to control religious beliefs. b.) He was more loyal to the King of Spain than to the English monarchy. c.) He refused to do his share of the farming and other work. d.) He wanted to lead a war against the American Indians Correct answer: (a); 52 percent answered correctly. * * * 4. What was the most significant factor that led the American colonists to form the First Continental Congress in 1774? a.) Religious conflict inside the colonies. b.) The desire of the colonists to write a Constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation c.) Colonial frustration with laws passed by the British Parliament. d.) The desire of the colonists to stop the war between Britain and the colonies. Correct answer: (c); 39 percent answered correctly. TWELFTH GRADE1. When the United States entered the Second World War, one of its allies was: a.) Germany b.) Japan c.) the Soviet Union d.) Italy Correct answer: (c); 48 percent answered correctly. * * * 2. The United States acquired large portions of the Southwest as a result of the: a.) War of 1812 b.) Mexican-American War c.) Civil War d.) Spanish-American War Correct answer: (b); 40 percent answered correctly. * * * 3. In which book did Upton Sinclair describe the terrible working and food-production conditions in the meat-packing industry? a.) The Grapes of Wrath b.) The Pit c.) The Octopus d.) The Jungle Correct answer: (d); 41 percent answered correctly. * * * 4. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) was significant because it: a.) ended the war in Korea. b.) gave President Johnson the authority to expand the scope of the Vietnam War. c.) was an attempt to take foreign policy power away from the President. d.) allowed China to become a member of the United Nations. Correct answer: (b); 29 percent answered correctly. * * * For more information about the study or for more questions, visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ -- Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress, U.S. Department of Education
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