KIDS TODAY DON'T KNOW A LOT ABOUT HISTORY

           U.S. students don't know much about American history, according to results of a national test released yesterday.
           Just 13 percent of high-school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress, called the Nation's Report Card, showed solid academic performance in American history.  The two other grades didn't perform much better, with just 22 percent of fourth-grade students and 18 percent of eight-graders scoring proficient or better.
          The test quizzed students on topics including colonization, the American Revolution and the Civil War, and the contemporary United States.
          Education experts said a heavy focus on reading and math under the federal No Child Left Behind law in the last decade has led to lagging performance in other subjects, such as history and science.
          More than 7,000 fourth-graders, 11,000 eight-graders and 12,000 high-school seniors from a national representative sample took the test last year.  To be considered proficient, fourth-graders had to get 243 out of 500; eight-graders needed 294, and 12-graders had to get a 325.
          "Overall the quality and success of our lives can only be enhanced by a study of our roots," said Stephen Paine, former state schools superintendent for West Virginia.  "If you don't know your past, you will not have a future."

 How do you stack up ? 
           Here's a sampling of questions from the 2010 Natiional Assessment of Educational Progress U.S. history test.
           The answers at the end indicate what percentage of students got each question right:
1. An important result of the building of canals in the United States was that:
    a) Salvery spread to the Western states
    b) Railroad-building stopped
    c) More people traveled to California to farm
    d) Trade increased among the states
2. At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Northern and Southern delegates debated whether or not slaves would be counted as part of the state's population.  Disagreement led to bitter tensions among delegates.  To resolve the question referred to in the passage, delegates agreed to:
   a) Include all male salves in population totals
   b) Include no slaves in population totals
   c) Count each slave as three-fifths of a person in population totals
   d) Count slaves in the Southern states but not in the Northern
3. During the Korean War, United Nations forces made up largely of troops from the United States and South Korea fought against troops from North Korea and:
   a) The Soviet Union
   b) Japan
   c) China

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Answers :
      Question 1: 44 percent of fourth-graders correctly chose D.
      Question 2: 59 percent of eight-graders correctly chose C.
      Question 3: 22 percent of 12-graders correctly chose C.