Recently, the National Report Card, a national assessment of educational progress, revealed America’s grade as an 8.th Student performance in the grade, long used as an educational benchmark, was at an all-time low. Poor performance in math and reading has ruined 30 years of progress for America’s young people. School administrators quickly bounced back after further damage from the pandemic, but the institutions drifted toward mediocrity long before the disruption of lockdowns. Overall poor performance is a shame that must be borne by those who manage such institutions, but the historical slump reflects the nation as a whole. It’s a canary panting in the coal mines of our democracy.
Our historical illiteracy is not just a lack of education, it is also a harbinger of cultural collapse. Most of us have encountered some form of mute response from the younger generation to questions that require a particular piece of what was once common sense. “Why should I know the answer when I can have it in seconds on my phone?” Mathematics and certain other technical subjects lend themselves well to software shortcuts when the answers are simple and absolute. There is a possibility that For example, 1 plus 1 will always equal 2, despite certain ideologue arguments.
But history is not such expertise or absolute answers. History not only affects our brains, it also affects our hearts and minds. History defines identity, the literal and figurative DNA unique to each human being. You can’t summon your identity like trivia from a satellite. History is our anchor, without it we are drifting. Michael Crichton, prolific author of historical and other novels, warns: You are just a leaf that does not know that you are part of a tree. ”
But history is abandoned in many of our educational institutions. Professors, and many of those who fit the eerie term “influencers,” have tried to label our past in the same way that they seek to weed out those who do not follow their ideology. We try to deny our past. They seem to think that if the past can be labeled and set aside, there is no need to grapple with its complexity and its rich and rewarding challenges. But when they deny history, they deny themselves. What is left for humans when the door slams behind them? Are empty bins filled with nothing but the daily feeds of social media algorithms? Without the filter of history, how do audiences learn the well-taught lesson of the past that such crowd psychology destroys the individual?George Orwell’s famous novel is evolving into a factual chronicle that could be retitled 2023.
Learning about our ancestors doesn’t just explain the nature of our earlobes or the color of our eyes. Understanding our ancestry explains why we are in this particular place, at this particular time, and in this particular situation. Embracing history is a way of embracing the turbulent human journey in which we are all travelers. To learn what it means to be human, it is essential to recognize that we are part of a long, unbroken chain of human struggles and victories. My own life was greatly enriched when I learned how my ancestors were driven out of Scotland by Cromwell, and found others who fought at the Battles of Verdun, Brooklyn, Crecy and Hastings. , the desire for the past became insatiable.
Learning history is ultimately learning to identify the truth. The most essential aspects of history that give us go far beyond the dates of battles and the names of kings and queens. History provides the seed of wisdom, which only sprouts when the knowledge of such facts is absorbed. It is our transcendence over time. That’s what Lincoln meant when he evoked “mysterious memory chords” that connect us with the terrifying and miraculous currents of humanity.
Our democratic process cannot survive without these chords of memory. The democratic dialogue that is the lifeblood of our country will be silenced if our people willfully ignore the fundamental rights on which our country was founded. The liberties that history-deniers consider to be their birthright were bestowed upon them by the blood and tears of their predecessors, and by nurturing those liberties we accept our debt to the past. Otherwise they may be lost. From the original constitutional controversy to its precedents among philosophers and politicians from England to Rome to ancient Greece, our history offers profound lessons about how democracies operate. It’s a remarkable story to offer though.
But who is listening to that lesson? Our elected officials score lower on history tests than the average citizen. Are we even losing the ability to inherit what it means to be American? Do we prove the late historian David McCullough, who lamented, “America’s youth are like cut flowers that have withered because they have been severed from their roots”? If we don’t know where we’ve gone, we’ll never know where we’re going.
Elliott Pattison’s 19 novels include the acclaimed “Bourne Rattler” series set in the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
