Although the United States and allied countries solemnly recalled the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday, an alarming number of young Americans apparently don't have a clue about what happened on June 6, 1944.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress – known as the Nation's Report Card – 40% of eighth graders tested below average in the basics of U.S. history in 2022.
Those basics included proficiency in and knowledge of history. But the Nation's Report Card showed the students couldn't identify dates or concepts such as the founding of the U.S., the Civil War, or D-Day, News Nation reported Thursday.
Nor were eighth graders able to recite what an historical event was, when it happened, or why it mattered.
U.S. history scores on the assessment have continued to decline since 2014, according to the Nation's Report Card analysis.
The same history-knowledge evaluation showed more than 70% of adults flunk a civic literacy quiz on topics such as the three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial), the number of Supreme Court justices [nine] and other basic functions of U.S. government.
Only half of adults could correctly name the branch of government where bills become laws (legislative).
The outlet noted the depressing drop in the grasp of historical facts isn't the only deficit: Patriotism has also diminished, according to a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll in March. In the survey, only about 38% of respondents said patriotism was important to them – down from 70% in the same poll taken in 1998.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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