American history

You've probably seen a story the last few days regarding students' poor performance in American history. In fact, alarmingly, a national test showed that students are least proficient in American history than in any other subject.

This New York Times writeup explains:

American students are less proficient in their nation’s history than in any other subject, according to results of a nationwide test released on Tuesday, with most fourth graders unable to say why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure and few high school seniors able to identify China as the North Korean ally that fought American troops during the Korean War.

Over all, 20 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 12 percent of high school seniors demonstrated proficiency on the exam, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Federal officials said they were encouraged by a slight increase in eighth-grade scores since the last history test, in 2006. But even those gains offered little to celebrate because, for example, fewer than a third of eighth graders could answer even a “seemingly easy question” asking them to identify an important advantage American forces had over the British during the Revolution, the government’s statement on the results said.

Of course, we can sit around and lob grenades at the students taking these exams, describing them as lazy, disappointing, and the like. But the real perpetrator here is our education system, which repeatedly spurns history and civics education in favor of the more rational science and math. No Child Left Behind has only accelerated this trend over the last decade.

History advocates contend that students’ poor showing on the tests underlines neglect shown to the subject by federal and state policy makers, especially since the 2002 No Child Left Behind act began requiring schools to raise scores in math and reading but in no other subject. The federal accountability law, the advocates say, has given schools and teachers an incentive to spend less time on history and other subjects.

“History is very much being shortchanged,” said Linda K. Salvucci, a history professor in San Antonio who is chairwoman-elect of the National Council for History Education.

Many teacher-education programs, Ms. Salvucci said, also contribute to the problem by encouraging aspiring teachers to seek certification in social studies, rather than in history. “They think they’ll be more versatile, that they can teach civics, government, whatever,” she said. “But they’re not prepared to teach history.”

Salvucci's point is interesting, especially given that I and others here have called for more civic education. Perhaps history is being shortchanged.

However, we should be careful to not view history as some static set of facts that need to be deposited into students' brains. History is a set of complicated lessons and problems that, unfortunately, aren't mined at all. In my experience, for example, high school history classes are too scared to touch anything after World War II for fear of parental rage over indoctrination and the like.

Yet, the complex nature of our problems these days--created by many of those who use this study as ammunition to attack youth--demand students who can sort through the messy stuff. Yes, funding is limited, and we have already committed to investing much of it in science, math, and reading, but history and civics are also more important than ever. And we simply can't afford to watch this area of our education atrophy.

Those of you who pay attention to television commercials have probably noticed Levi's new advertising campaign titled "Go Forth." The theme centers on the progressive tradition of the Levi Strauss & Co., nostalgically looking back to the role of jeans on the frontier. One commercial uses Walt Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers!" to call a generation to order.

I thought that given our current economic crisis's impact on our generation, whether it be in the form of a poor, unjust health care system, or whether it takes the shape of severe budget cuts and sharp, painful tuition increases, Whitman's message would be particularly apt for this weekend.

Accompanying the text is the audio of Will Greer's reading of the poem on YouTube; this is the voice that reads the poem on the Levi's commercial.

Pioneers! O Pioneers! by Walt Whitman

Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!

For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas?
We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

All the past we leave behind,
We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

We primeval forests felling,
We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within,
We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Colorado men are we,
From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,
From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental
blood intervein’d,
All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

O resistless restless race!
O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all!
O I mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with love for all,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Raise the mighty mother mistress,
Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress,
(bend your heads all,)
Raise the fang’d and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon’d mistress,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

See my children, resolute children,
By those swarms upon our rear we must never yield or falter,
Ages back in ghostly millions frowning there behind us urging,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

On and on the compact ranks,
With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill’d,
Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

O to die advancing on!
Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come?
Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill’d.
Pioneers! O pioneers!

All the pulses of the world,
Falling in they beat for us, with the Western movement beat,
Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all for us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Life’s involv’d and varied pageants,
All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work,
All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

All the hapless silent lovers,
All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

I too with my soul and body,
We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,
Through these shores amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Lo, the darting bowling orb!
Lo, the brother orbs around, all the clustering suns and planets,
All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

These are of us, they are with us,
All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind,
We to-day’s procession heading, we the route for travel clearing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

O you daughters of the West!
O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives!
Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Minstrels latent on the prairies!
(Shrouded bards of other lands, you may rest, you have done your work,)
Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Not for delectations sweet,
Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious,
Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Do the feasters gluttonous feast?
Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock’d and bolted doors?
Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Has the night descended?
Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged nodding
on our way?
Yet a passing hour I yield you in your tracks to pause oblivious,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Till with sound of trumpet,
Far, far off the daybreak call–hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind,
Swift! to the head of the army!–swift! spring to your places,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

The future of this country is intimidating. In many ways, we find ourselves in the same wilderness Whitman writes of here. At any moment, an arrow carrying the news of a health tragedy could pierce our lives. The disease of joblessness continues to spread; who next? How do we stop it, or prepare for it? Fighting the brush, the daily reminders of what might seem like an ill-fated voyage, is exhausting. How do we survive?

If we follow Whitman's advice, we join together. We think of those Americans behind us, not yet present. Will we give them the same opportunities we have? Better opportunities? We clear the brush, forging a clear way forward. We capitalize on our talents -- organizers, students, tradespeople, farmers -- to keep pushing forward. Though there are those who bring up the past in an effort to distract us from moving forward, in Whitman's words, "all the past we leave behind."

"We cannot tarry here ... we must bear the brunt of danger." We must pursue change, big change, to keep moving forward. It is up to us, the young people, to do the work.

Note: Thanks to a friend of mine, Chris Fox, for pointing me to this poem.

A back and forth with a commenter on my personal blog this week made me reflect on this topic over the last few days. The offending post was the "lazy journalism" piece that I wrote and published here last week. The commenter mostly took issue with the introduction of the post, in which I offered a general commentary on the Millennial generation, noting our generation's penchant for civic involvement and the necessity of a strong, independent press to get the most out of our high level of engagement. The commenter's main issue, after several back-and-forth comments, was my "lauding" of Millennials, as he sought to downplay Millennials' activism compared to the military service of the GIs and Boomers in World War II and Vietnam respectively. Such a comparison is obviously ill-conceived, and it demonstrates a hierarchical view of service, in which military service is valued over other civic opportunities, something I wrote about last summer when McCain showed signs of subscribing to this point of view.

I think it's first important to recognize that whether one is serving his/her country overseas in combat, or doing so on one's homeland, it's still service, and it's still valuable. The famous Kennedy call-to-service ("Ask not what your country can do for you...") doesn't discriminate by whether or not one is fighting overseas. It implies that service of all varieties is a universal value, and certainly an American one. Yes, incredible bravery and patriotism is required to put your life on the line for your country. But distinguished patriotism can also be seen in soup kitchens across the country. It can be seen in community organizers, in hospitals, in non-profits, in school districts, in colleges and universities, in those more fortunate paying taxes to invest in our country's future. One of the best things about America is that everyone has a gift and is able to give back to society should he/she choose to do so.

But if we are going to accept the commenter's argument asserting the importance of military service, let's dig in. Yes, the GI Generation largely fought World War II for America, staring the Nazi's down and defeating them. And young Boomers formed the crux of the American effort in Vietnam, with Elwood Carlson, in his book The Lucky Few, suggesting that Boomers lost 50,000 from their ranks while fighting.

But let's not forget the wartime military service of Millennials. As of last fall, 1.7 million Americans had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Millennials made up just over 1 million of that number. Ross Cohen, the Director of Civilian-Military Partnerships at Be The Change, Inc. (an organization encouraging citizen-based activism to pursue systemic change), estimates that out of the 185,000 currently deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, approximately 139,000, or 75 percent of those deployed, are Millennials. On top of these numbers, Millennial veterans also face numerous issues upon their return to the United States. For example, over sixty percent of employers admitted to not completely understanding how military experiences translate into relevant job qualifications. The mental health stigma attached to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans only makes job prospects worse, and that's before the current jobs environment is even considered. So while the wartime efforts of GIs and Boomers should be celebrated, Millennial military service and its undesirable consequences should also be acknowledged.

In the end, whether or not one serves as an activist, a soldier, or in some other way, the important thing is that they're serving. And that brings us back to Kennedy's proclamation made nearly 50 years ago. Kennedy's oft-quoted statement exhorting Americans to serve is well-known, but the following sentences are usually cropped from historical footage.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love...

In other words, America only works when the government believes in it citizens, when the citizens believe in the government, and when the citizens of the world believe in the United States. This relationship is based on a compromise: American citizens, in doing all that they can for their country (through military service and a strong sense of civic engagement), will be promised that their representatives serving them will replicate that effort in their own work, nationally and globally.

The experiment that is America spans many generations, and, as we know from Howe and Strauss, Winograd and Hais, and other generational scholars, each generation possesses distinguished talents and faces unique challenges. When I write about generations here and other places, I'm not saying that one (Millennials) is better than any other; I'm simply commenting on the skills our generation has that, in partnering with other generations' talents, can help make America better.