Newsweek Writer Blames Lack of 'Centralized Curriculum' for Americans Failing Citizenship Test
Appearing on MSNBC today, Newsweek senior writer Andrew Romano attributed the findings of his magazine's study showing Americans don't understand basic facts about U.S. history to the country's lack of a top-down federal government-imposed curriculum.
When daytime anchor Thomas Roberts asked Romano to explain the significance of the survey, the Daily Beast scribe indicted federalism: "Another reason why we don’t do well is because we don’t have a kind of centralized curriculum in our schools. Everyone in different states kind of learns different things. And that definitely contributes to it as well."
[Video follows page break]
Teeing up the segment, Roberts reminded viewers that Republican presidential contenders Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann have all recently made "public flubs" that "give us pause." He went on to parrot Newsweek's "how dumb are we?" line.
Of course, when the study was first published in March, Romano fingered another pet liberal issue, "income inequality," as the culprit for America's poor performance.
"One of the big ones is income inequality in the United States," professed Romano on the CBS Early Show. "We're one of the most in-equal societies in the developed world."
A transcript of the segment can be found below:
MSNBC
News Live
June 7, 2011
11:20 a.m. EDT
THOMAS ROBERTS: Over the past few weeks, we have watched a number of public figures stumble while trying to recall facts of American history and these little rewrites tend to attract a lot of attention. Take a look.
SARAH PALIN, former Alaska governor: He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.
HERMAN CAIN, Republican presidential candidate: For the benefit of those that are not going to read it because they don’t want us to go about the Constitution, there’s a little section in there that talks about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rep. MICHELE BACHMANN, (R-Minn.): What I love about New Hampshire, and what we have in common, is our extreme love for liberty. You’re the state where the shot was heard round the world at Lexington and Concord.
ROBERTS: Alright so in case you were curious, here are the facts. Paul Revere wasn’t warning the British, he was warning the Americans. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is a famous line from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. And the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire. But mistakes, they can be easy to make. And these public flubs give us pause to ask ourselves how much do we really know? Newsweek magazine gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. citizenship test and the results, they’re pretty shocking. Andrew Romano is a senior reporter for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, and he joins me in studio now. Andrew, it’s great to have you here and it’s going to be interesting to find out about these results. As we said, you polled 1,000 people, Newsweek asking how dumb are we? And the numbers really aren’t that good. So break it down for us. Tell us the results and how shocked should we be?
ANDREW ROMANO, Newsweek magazine: Sure. The thing that is really shocking, the topline number, is that 38 percent of people who took the citizenship test failed, which is surprising because these are basic facts about how our civics system works, about U.S. history, the kind of stuff you learn in History 101 in high school. There are a couple of other really shocking facts in there too. The one that really got me is that 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Joe Biden, in case anyone’s wondering.
ROBERTS: Yeah the 29 percent out there that couldn’t get that right are. Alright so where does this American ignorance come from? Is it because we’re not processing and saving what we’re taught in school. Or is it because when we’re talking about our country’s foundational history, but modern history, who the vice president it. Is it because people aren’t keeping up with what’s going on in the world? Picking up a newspaper, turning on the TV set.
ROMANO: Yeah that’s part of it. I mean, one of the big figures is that we have a complicated political system. You know, in Europe their system is a little more compressed and condensed and they tend to do a better on these types of tests than we do. You know, everyone who goes out to the polls knows that they see a whole list of people they have to vote for and they’re not really familiar with these offices. So that’s one reason. Another reason why we don’t do well is because we don’t have a kind of centralized curriculum in our schools. Everyone in different states kind of learns different things. And that definitely contributes to it as well.
ROBERTS: Is that the most problematic aspect, do you think, that’s revealed from doing a test like this, a simple test to prove that out of a thousand people that are polled, that we get results like this? I think that one of these results was that even 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on the calendar? Couldn’t circle July 4th.
ROMANO: That’s pretty surprising. I think the big takeaway from this is that actually polls like this have been going on for years and years, since World War II.
--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
Amazing
Submitted by stratman on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 1:38pm.
Liberals have been on a decades old jihad to remove American history, government studies, good citizenship and certain aspects of social studies from curricula across the country and now they kvetch about Americans not knowing enough about America? Of course the solution is more centralized, top-down Liberal control to "fix" the problem they created in the first place.
Pass the duct tape fast, Motherbelt!
Socialist liberal educators
Submitted by johnsonl on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 3:16pm.
have been busy pushing their left wing agenda in the public schools so that our children feel no connection to their country. They have no knowledge of it, much less any resoect for it. They don't have to say the pledge of alligence or even stand and face the flag anymore, no wonder they burn flags in college. Now that the majority conservative population of our country is pushing back, the left is trying to cover up with what else? "There ought to be a law...". I hope these educators can adapt to teaching that America has a rich and glorious history. The job market is pretty slim these days and there are plenty of qualified teachers that will teach whatever curriculum is required.
The Left is constantly
Submitted by stratman on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 4:59pm.
The Left is constantly adapting tactics to propel their agenda. Schools have been incorporating the self described part anarchist, part socialist Howard Zinn's revisionist A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present for students in high school and probably lower grades as well.
Who knows how many college kids believe this garbage.
Sorry I missed your SOS,
Submitted by motherbelt on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 3:32pm.
Sorry I missed your SOS, strat....
I suggest you get prepared with this for future emergencies....
You hit that nail on the head!
I can always count on you to
Submitted by stratman on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 5:04pm.
I can always count on you to be prepared and help the rest of us be ready for the head exploding days ahead.
Do you think the Left own or are deeply invested in duct tape and their behaviors are calculated to sell more? That would be wickedly capitalistic. ;-)
Everyone learns
Submitted by HockeyKid on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 1:50pm.
in "History 101 in high school", eh, Romano? Course numbers like 101 are indicative of low-level college courses, not high school. Would that be an innocent flub on your part, or one of those horrible indicators of ignorance that you see in conservatives all around you?
Call back when you grow up.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
What do you expect with a journolism degree?
Submitted by johnsonl on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 3:17pm.
The ability to research facts and report the news without bias?
Flub
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 1:50pm.
The same classes in all 57 states, eh?
Exactly!
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 2:49pm.
Could we have a network run down of all Obama's "flubs?"
And while we're discussing what's taught, do they even mention Paul Revere anymore? Isn't American history nowadays pretty much; Columbus attacked peaceful natives, Pilgrims gave smallpox laden blankets to the noble, indigenous tribes and then Rosa Parks demanded to drive the bus? Oh yeah, and GW Bush is a war criminal.
tax dollars at work
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 2:36pm.
And there you have it, proof positive that throwing more money at something doesn't mean it's going to work. They've thrown more money at education every year and each year it gets worse.
So how about we just reverse all that?
-Jon
I blame the teacher's union goons...
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 2:50pm.
...and their centalized bosses at the federal Dept. of "Education."
I also blame the parents who pack their precious spawn off to the government five days a week for ten months each year.
Nothing good could ever come from that.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
I blame socialist, liberal,
Submitted by jessieH on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 4:52pm.
I blame socialist, liberal, union teachers who have no clue as to how to teach. They DO have a knack for indoctrination and treason.
What, no calls for more educational "investments?"
Submitted by lsudolemite on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 5:52pm.
I mean, that is the libs' answer to every problem: just throw more money down the toilet after it.
I guess now that we have no more money, they have to resort to the next most effective solution to every problem: more government regulations from on high.
Just got a sneak preview of my kids 7th grade book tonight
Submitted by stunned on Wed, 06/08/2011 - 2:15am.
" The 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch over to the BCE/CE usage, ending a 138-year usage of the traditional BC/AD dating notation. It is used by the College Board in its history tests."
I found the above info on the net. I went to the middle school open house and looked at the history textbook and saw he would be studing history from 500-1400 CE. I went up to the Social Studies teacher and asked why the change? I found out that the PC culture which has infected Social Studies has gone completely nuts. Kids don't know history when the textbooks and teachers are more concerned about political correctness that history. Will be sure to read the damn book next September.
My daughter's fourth grade textbook on the Revolutionary War mentioned George Washington and had a section on Molly Pitcher (illustration and all) with ONE SENTENCE dedicated to Thomas Jefferson (he wrote the Constitution) and NO mention of Adams, Franklin or any other Founding Father. No mention of Paul Revere either LOL. You want to know why they don't know history when they have to spend time knowing every fact about minor female, black and hispanic character the authors can dig up.
Oh and she got one question wrong on the test on the Revolutionary War when she aswered that Molly brought water to the troops during the battle at Monmouth and forgot to mention she manned the cannon too. The damn book never mentioned her real name was Mary Hays and other women were also known as "Molly Pitcher" during the War including Margaret Corbin who did the same thing, was wounded in the arm defending Fort Washington in Manhattan and was the first woman awarded an Army pension.
tired of liberal lies
As an aside to your post,
Submitted by UpNorth on Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:22am.
Stunned, if you can find a way, get your kids to a private school or home school them. Indeed, the people who write the books are catering to the progressives who purchase the books. That's why PC has infected the teaching of American History. Get your kids away from them, if you can.
Don't cheat
Submitted by Injest on Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:05am.
"At 12:15pm, Roberts issued a correction on his Twitter page, blaming a "mistake in my script.""
So basically like a well trained monkey Robert's only “reads” from his script!
And could they please nail it down as to what it is they think Palin got wrong in her off the cuff, not from a script, Revere flub?
Basic undisputed facts.
Revere did warn the British.
Palin never said his goal that night was to warn the British and only warn the British.
The British were on a mission to confiscate arms.
Warning shots were fired, how else do you wake up hundreds of people in the middle of the frigging morning 1AM to 3:30AM!
What fact did she get wrong?
"SARAH PALIN, former Alaska governor: He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free."
“He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms”
This is a historical fact. Revere, one of several riders, was captured that night/morning. He was interrogated by the British. He told the British they weren't going to get our guns without a fight!
The British let him go. The British noted in their records of the night they heard the bells and the gunfire.
"Roberts ..”In case you were curious, here are the facts.
Paul Revere wasn’t warning the British, he was warning the Americans.”"
She said he DID warn the British and that is a historical fact.
There is nothing in “ He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms”
that states Paul Revere goal/mission was to warned the British and only the British.
'”Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' is a famous line from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.”
None of these words were in Palin's off the cuff remark!
“He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.”
My god! 3 weeks and dozens of experts have only proven Palin was correct! In an off the cuff remark!
I can guaranty none of the script reading monkeys would have been able to supply 3 historical facts of that night!
Quick what was the following day? and why is that important? what is that day called?