At the recent Warren County Fair, the Warren County Republicans booth featured a carnival-style version of the high school civics test. Residents were asked basic questions about American history and heritage. The results were alarming!
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At last month’s county fair, volunteers asked attendees to “spin a wheel” to select a question from the citizenship questions for high school graduation. Many volunteers reported that attendees were clueless about basic facts of American history and government.
According to one person present, “It was like Jay Leno on his old ‘jaywalking’ feature or Jesse Waters when he was on Bill O’Riley’s show.”
According to one volunteer, two people in their twenties were asked to name one thing Abraham Lincoln did. The first answer given was, “He had wooden teeth. No, wait, that was George Washington!” (Actually, George Washington didn’t have wooden teeth, but that’s not the biggest problem here.)
They were then unable to produce a single fact about the 16th President of these United States, the Commander-in-Chief during the Civil War, and the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, other than, “His face is on the penny.”
Multiple participants were unable to recall that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.
In another encounter, teenagers were asked to name one war that America fought in during the 20th Century. The answer the teenagers gave was “Ukraine”. Not only was this war not fought in the 20th Century, it was not fought by the United States.
Such answers prove that younger Americans have very little understanding of their nation’s history or heritage. A culture that doesn’t know its own identity is unlikely to survive.
This points to the urgent need to educate the next generation on American history, civics, and heritage.
How would you do? Below are the questions used during the fair. See how many you can answer!
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