Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published June 19, 2002

Education ain't what it used to be

Kids are just smarter now than when I went to school. Went to a local high school graduation recently. Looking over the graduating seniors, I noticed that at least two-thirds of them wore brightly colored capes indicating that they were honor graduates. This is wonderful, considering how much more they have to learn these days.

In my time, we probably had eight or nine such honor graduates, and they were always girls, or sissies, or both. Remember the Periodic Table of the Elements that hung on the wall in chemistry class? The one with the funny little squares that identified all the earth's known components? There are now over 100 basic elements that are so identified. When I went to school there were only three - dirt, rocks and water!

But if our students' proficiency in history is any indication, how can we have all these honor graduates? The U.S. Department of Education recently released the results of the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress Report on the teaching of American history. While the scores of fourth- and eighth-graders have modestly improved since 1994, the scores of 12th-graders were frustratingly low and showed no improvement. In the 12th grade - the graduating grade - 57 percent of students still fall "below basic."

Noted historian Diane Ravitch stated, "Such poor results in U.S. history are cause for additional alarm at a time when the United States is under terrorist threat." Our ability to defend - intelligently and thoughtfully - what we as a nation hold dear depends on our knowledge and understanding of what we hold dear. That can only be achieved through learning the history we share, and clearly far too many high school seniors have not learned even a modest part of it."

But I am happy to report that Palm Beach County, FL - the people who showed the rest of us how to determine voter intent - has now solved the history problem too! School officials have developed a new standardized final exam for American and world history classes to assure that students have learned the required lessons.

The exam is multiple-choice. One hundred questions, with four possible answers provided for each question. The student must select from answers A, B, C or D. In order to show "mastery" of the subject, and a passing grade, a student must get a total of 23 answers correct. Thirty-nine correct answers will give the student a B. And with 51 correct answers, the student will get an A! See, problem solved!

Is this a wonderful country, or what?

· · ·
Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.