Evidence of National Amnesia
Test your knowledge
of American history with the same questions asked
of elite college seniors
YOU MAY REMEMBER THE headlines:
“Elite college seniors flunk basic American
history.” “Beavis and Butthead are more
familiar than George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln.” In 2000, the American Council
of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA ) issued a
groundbreaking report that revealed an
alarming ignorance of American history
among seniors from the country’s most elite
(as defined by U.S. News and
World Report) colleges and
universities.
Four out of five —
81 percent — of the seniors
surveyed received a grade D
or F on 34 questions drawn
from a basic high school history
curriculum. The results
were discouraging to anyone
who believes, as David
McCullough does, that our nation is suffering
from “a kind of creeping amnesia.”
Not only did the “Elite College History
Survey” generate national headlines, but it
also resulted in a Congressional resolution
calling upon college and university trustees,
state administrators, history educators, and
parents to address the issue of America’s
historical illiteracy. The resolution was
endorsed by such prominent historians as
McCullough, Gordon Wood, and Oscar Handlin.
ACTA ’s reports continue to inform
national dialogue and policy, and were referenced
by President Bush in his 2002
national history and civics initiative.
So what were students asked in the
survey, and how would you have responded
to the same questions? With permission
from the ACTA , Response reprints 16 of the
34 survey questions. Answers are provided
at the bottom of the page, along with the
percentage of college seniors who answered
each question correctly.
Sample
Questions
From
the “Elite
College
History
Survey”
1. What was the source of the following
phrase: “Government of the people,
by the people, for the people”?
a. The speech: “I have a Dream”
b. Declaration of Independence
c. U.S. Constitution
d. Gettsyburg Address
2. Who was the leading advocate for the
U.S. entry into the League of Nations?
a. George C. Marshall
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Henry Cabot Lodge
d. Eleanor Roosevelt
3. What was the lowest point in American
fortunes in the Revolutionary War?
a. Saratoga
b. Bunker Hill
c. Valley Forge
d. Fort Ticonderoga
4. Who was the “Father of the Constitution”?
a. George Washington
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. Benjamin Franklin
d. James Madison
5. Who was the president of the United
States at the beginning of the Korean War?
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Dwight Eisenhower
d. Harry Truman
6. The Emancipation Proclamation issued
by Lincoln stated that:
a. Slaves were free in areas of the
Confederate states not held by the Union
b. The slave trade was illegal
c. Slaves who fled to Canada would be
protected
d. Slavery was abolished in the Union
7. The Battle of the Bulge occurred during
a. The Vietnam War
b. World War II
c. World War I
d. The Civil War
8. Are Beavis and Butthead
a. A radio show
b. Television cartoon characters
c. A musical group
d. Fictional soldiers
9. The Monroe Doctrine declared that:
a. The American blockade of Cuba was in
accord with international law
b. Europe should not acquire new territories
in the Western Hemisphere
c. Trade with China should be open to all
Western nations
d. The annexation of the Philippines was
legitimate
10. Which of the following was a prominent
leader of the Abolitionist Movement?
a. Malcolm X
b. Martin Luther King Jr.
c. W.E.B. Du Bois
d. Frederick Douglass
11. Social legislation passed under
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great
Society Program included:
a. The Sherman Antitrust Act
b. The Voting Rights Act
c. The Tennessee Valley Authority
d. The Civilian Conservation Corps
12. Who was the European who traveled
in the United States and wrote down
perceptive comments about what he
saw in Democracy in America?
a. Lafayette
b. Tocqueville
c. Crevecoeur
d. Napoleon
13. Who said, “I regret that I have only
one life to give for my country”?
a. John F. Kennedy
b. Benedict Arnold
c. John Brown
d. Nathan Hale
14. When was Thomas Jefferson president?
a. 1780–1800
b. 1800–1820
c. 1820–1840
d. 1840–1860
e. 1860–1880
15. The Scopes Trial was about:
a. Freedom of the press
b. Teaching evolution in the schools
c. Prayer in the schools
d. Education in private schools
16. Who was “First in war, first in peace,
first in the hearts of his countrymen”?
a. George Washington
b. Woodrow Wilson
c. Dwight Eisenhower
d. Abraham Lincoln
Click here for the answers.
Editor's Note: To read the complete survey and ACTA report, click here. Scroll down the page to "Losing America's Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century."
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