Schools flunk, Governor flunks
To the Editor:

A few years ago the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), aware that a basic knowledge of US history is essential to full and informed participation in civic life, and knowing that many of America's most distinguished historians and intellectuals had expressed alarm about the growing historical illiteracy of college and university graduates, commissioned the University of Connecticut to survey seniors from the nation's top colleges and universities to determine what they knew about this nation's history. They flunked. 81% of seniors from the top 55 colleges and universities in the nation received a D or an F on a test which was composed of questions drawn from a basic high school curriculum. To address the problem, one of the actions recommended by ACTA was for citizens to petition their governors to issue proclamations calling upon all Americans to renew their commitment to historical literacy. This seemed to me a reasonable request so, based on material from ACTA, and a proclamation by the US Congress, I prepared a petition to Governor Perdue, had it co-signed by 100 of my friends and neighbors, and submitted it. After jousting with the Governor's office for several months, they finally informed me that it is their "usual practice" to reject petitions (regardless of merit) which are submitted by private citizens, unless they are submitted on behalf of an organization. I suppose if I had submitted a petition on behalf of an organization of emu lovers, I would probably have been successful. And before you laugh, be advised that the Governor has signed Proclamations for "Emu Week" as well as "Ice Cream Month." Armed with this knowledge of how to circumvent the Governor's insouciance, I decided to approach a suitable organization to sponsor the petition. At that time my wife was pursuing membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), so I selected them, thinking that they would certainly be interested in promoting historical literacy. I was wrong. The DAR was not interested, and I, frustrated, and having other dragons to slay, shelved the effort and moved on.

But the problem persists. About a year ago, the University of Connecticut addressed the matter again, this time with a different survey, commissioned by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), but with basically the same unfortunate findings. Last month ISI released the results in a depressing report entitled "The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions," and the title says it all.

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, a Mrs. Powell of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got?" And without hesitation he answered, "A republic, if you can keep it." We remain the beneficiaries of that republic, but we do so with special attention to Franklin's admonition, since it is only through engaged and thoughtful civic participation that we "can keep it." Knowledge of our republic's origins, and of the principles and documents on which free government stands, are central to informed participation in civic life, but serious studies suggest that we lack that understanding. Unless we act now, Americans who follow us will be ill-prepared for the tasks and challenges of citizenship in a free society. We must ensure that the next generation receives an adequate grounding in America's history, particularly its Founding documents, if we are to "keep" our republic and keep faith with those who established it. We are not just the beneficiaries, we are custodians of our great experiment in self-government and the vigorous civil society it engenders. If you belong to an organization you think could get past the Governor's gate keepers, and would be willing to sponsor a petition for a proclamation "On the Need for Historical Literacy in the State of Georgia," you need not start from scratch. I would be happy to discuss passing my file to you, so all you would have to do is to replace my name with yours, copy it to your organization letterhead, and mail it. If you're interested, E-mail me at terraesp@alltel.net.

Cordially, Chuck Esposito Suches, Georgia