Historically illiterate

Editorial in Jacksonville Daily News, August 9, 2013.

“Why is it important if you don’t know the facts about Yorktown? It means you have no idea it was the last battle of the Revolutionary War … Why is it important to know who George Washington is? If it hadn’t been for George Washington, we wouldn’t have won the Revolutionary War. Without George Washington, we wouldn’t have the Constitution that we have and we wouldn’t have the presidency that we have.”

David McCullough, historian

Are Americans losing sight of their past? Some history educators fear we are. As schools increase their emphasis on science, math and standardized testing, they worry that students are losing meaningful instruction in history and civics.

And they have a point. It has become a national mantra that schools must prepare students for real jobs and, in the view of many people, the so-called soft sciences such as history and other social studies don’t make the cut.

But while many view history as boring facts about people who are long dead and places that no longer exist, it is and should be viewed as the story of who we are.

The importance of teaching history — and teaching it the right way, has been championed by none other than noted historian David McCullough, author of numerous, widely-acclaimed historical books, including “1776” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies “John Adams” and “Truman.”

Repeatedly he has commented that “we are raising a generation of people who are historically illiterate.”

He has gone so far as to suggest that the collective lack of knowledge of our own history is a threat to national security.

McCullough might be pleased to hear that some states, including North Carolina, are beefing up their American history curriculum. In our state, all high school students beginning with last year’s freshman class will be required to take two American history courses to graduate instead of a single class, as was the previous requirement. Students are supposed to get a more thorough overview of our nation’s founding principles as well as more recent events.

History is the window that connects our past and present. When we look through that window, we discover the people, events, challenges, victories and mistakes that built the United States we occupy today. It should be fascinating, like a journey through one’s family tree, helping us gain new insight into who we are and how we got that way.

It’s not just about the past. History helps us find the foundation on which we can build our future. If we don’t know where we’ve been, it’s difficult to know where we should be going.