Opinion piece on history education lacking investigative leads

Knowledge-Based Education vs. Process-Based Education 77 half the students answered correctly that that came from the Declaration of Independence. Another question said, “Imagine that you landed in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. Describe an important event that is happening there.” Nearly half the students couldn’t answer the question correctly that the Declaration of Independence was being signed. Politicians never seem to get it about education. What history do students “need to know”? None, actually, unless they plan on being historians, or maybe senators. Now I realize this is a radical point of view, but history is not something anyone needs to know. Why not? Because knowing what happened in Philadelphia in 1776 does not in fact make you a better citizen, no matter what Alexander says. Random historical “facts” do not make one a critical thinker about history nor do they promote clear thinking about current political issues. Such “facts” are almost always used by politicians to justify whatever it is they already believe. Understanding how human events typically flow is, in fact, quite valuable, but that has more to do with understanding human nature and prior circumstances than it does with memorizing facts that politicians deem important to know. A good citizen would be one who carefully considered the issues when voting. That would mean being able to diagnose problems and evalu- ate proposed solutions. But that would produce a citizenry that could ask hard questions of politicians, which is probably not what these politicians are aiming for. In 1776 we had a bunch of politicians who, if the present set are any example, surely were voting for their own special interests. The fact that we, as a country, feel the need to make them into folk heroes does not make it one bit more likely they were any better or worse than the current people who govern us. What Alexander is really ar- guing for is more indoctrination—more informing students what to think instead of teaching them how to think. It would be nice if one simply could point a finger and say it is all the politicians’ fault. They really don’t want people to think all that clearly. But politicians are only part of the problem. Recently, a report was issued about the teaching of mathematics, stating: HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023823