Why are so many Americans now ignorant of actual US history+Constitution?

Question

It is not just people here on Y/A but people I meet in everyday life and they walk around thinking such nonsense like:

Rushmore is a NATURAL monument (I almost had a stroke when I heard this one)
US founded on Christianity (which to anyone who knows history and/or Christianity knows that is just not true..original settlers mostly christian yes but govt always been secular and based on enlightened ideals of Thomas Paine, John Locke, Volatire, etc)
US fought with Germany against Russia in WW2.
Most people have no idea what the significance of the Battle of Lexington is (Start of the damn Revolutionary War)
No Right to Privacy in Constitution (Don't need specific word "privacy" when everything it entails is protected by various clauses)


The list goes on and on....are kids just allowed to walk right out of history class now?  I thought there were some standerds.
To hell with School Prayer...how about we bring back School Beatings if you don't make the grade?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

because they care more about britney spears and what your awful celebrities are doing to care about the world and or history

NAQ · Answer

In a way I do not think it is entirely their faults.. I love history as well and yes it does frustrate me when people spew out nonsense like that too.. (i.e. ive met people who thought America won the Vietnam war and swore by it).  However, I would not know what I knew now had I not educated MYSELF and through college courses.  I am sad to say but me as well as many others my age left the public school system with little to show for it.  

Another problem is that most kids find history to be fantastically boring!  I blame the teachers for that one.  To me its the most fascinating thing in the world and I think the teachers fail to show the students why exactly they are so passionate about it, but then again I feel that the teachers are also not motivated to be good teachers anyway... then why are you teaching? 

I guess all in all - public school sucks.  Standards were tossed out the window a long time ago.

JosefStalinsTroll · Answer

Vietnam may have won the battle, but who won the war? Now look at the country flourishing with McDonalds and Walmart. If you look back maybe that was the plan completely level the country and then a few years later be like yeah our bad. Here buy stuff from us to rebuild.

Ox · Answer

It's easier to teach feel-good mythology than actual history, which requires uncomfortable questions.  A population that really knew history might not so readily go along with everything the govt. is doing, especially when the Declaration of Independence says we have the right ot overthrow any government that's not doing what it's supposed to.

Anonymous · Answer

We have to start with the basics first and help kids to locate the USA on a world map. Many can't do that yet.
Then basic grammar and spelling, followed by simple math.

Why are so many Americans now ignorant of actual US history+Constitution?

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