Tom Petri, June 27, 2003

According to a study last year by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, 99 percent of 556 college seniors tested at 55 leading colleges and universities (including Harvard and Princeton) correctly identified Beavis and Butthead as popular cartoon characters - but only 23 percent had any idea who James Madison was.

The multiple-choice questions used in the study should have been a breeze for any well-educated 9th-grader. Yet, with participants receiving an average score of only 53 percent, it is clear that they are increasingly over the heads of even our top college graduates.

President Bush has cited studies showing that one in five high school seniors thought Germany was a U.S. ally during World War II and one in four eighth-graders didn't know why the Civil War was fought.

In response, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander recently won Senate passage of the American History and Civics Education Act. As Sen. Alexander explains it:

"This legislation will help put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools, so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American.

"Civics is being dropped from many school curricula. More than half the states have no requirement for a course in American government. And American history has been watered down, textbooks are dull, and their pages feature victims and diminish heroes. Because of politically correct attitudes from the left and right, teachers are afraid to teach the great controversies and struggles that are the essence of American history."

Sen. Alexander's bill would establish pilot programs for up to 12 Presidential Academies for Teachers of American History and Civics. K-12 teachers would attend these academies for two weeks in the summer to strengthen their knowledge of American history and civics and to explore different ways to each the subject.

Up to 12 Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics are also called for in the legislation. Outstanding incoming high school juniors and seniors would attend these academies for four weeks during the summer to broaden and deepen their understanding of the subjects.

Naturally, it won't be sufficient to simply provide summer courses for selected teachers and students, but we need to make a start if we are to reverse the decline of our national memory. Whether native-born or immigrant, every American child should receive an honest, straightforward education covering who we are as a nation, how we got to the present day, and how our government institutions were designed and how they operate.

That's why I'm supporting Sen. Alexander's proposal and its House counterpart in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where I am Vice Chairman. Also, I have introduced and am working for my own bill, the Higher Education for Freedom Act, which would establish grants to help train teachers in the subjects of traditional American history, free institutions, and Western civilization.

Tom Petri represents Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.