When you’re at your holiday barbecues, ballgames and fireworks this weekend, ask the children you meet the following questions:
- What country did America win its Independence from?
- How did America become independent?
- Why did Americans want to be independent?
Probe for understanding, not just “mere facts.” Feel free to summarize or post the responses here. I’m curious to get a snapshot about what our kids know about this most rudimentary piece of our nation’s history.
Update: Joanne Jacobs highlights a survey from the Bradley Foundation that “questions whether Americans are learning about the ideas that hold us together as a nation.”
A rich and balanced history best prepares young people for informed democratic participation. There are dangers to certain kinds of patriotism, but there are equal dangers to no patriotism at all. There is a middle ground, “a patriotism of principles,” to use the language of the American Federation of Teachers, based on a “common core of history [that] binds us together.” Americans should embrace an informed patriotism that expresses our devotion to our country and our bond with our fellow citizens.
Enjoy the holiday.
I sent this to my friendly neighborhood 11-year old, and got back the following…
Oh come on that is so easy! Is there a reward?
* What country did America win its Independence from?
Great Britain
* How did America become independent?
Prominent American men signed the Declaration of Independence, which triggered the Revolutionary War
* Why did Americans want to be independent?
The King taxed them unfairly, and was otherwise was acting evilly
Smart kid. I ran these questions past a half dozen kids, grades 4-6, at a fireworks display in upstate New York. They all knew America won its independence from England. Half mentioned the Declaration of Independence as a means of independence; none mentioned the American Revolution. Asked why Americans wanted to be independent, the answers ranged from “to be free” to “so they could practice their religion.”
What I’m not sure about is whether most of what she knows about the American Revolution came from 5th grade social studies or from American Girl Doll books.