George Washington? Who was he?

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced that six of 10 high school seniors failed to display even a basic knowledge of U.S. history in a national sample of 29,000 public and private school students.

How bad is it?

Columnist Clarence Page says that at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s pastoral Virginia estate, a spokeswoman told him: “Our visitors used to come to find out how George Washington lived. Today, they tend to come to find out who George Washington was.”

Adds Page: “Seven years of concerted effort to bolster history instruction produced virtually no gains on the National Assessment of Educational Progress which was given last year. ‘The higher their grade in school,’ said Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, ‘the lower their understanding in history.'”

How many “man on the street” interviews for newspapers and television reveal a shocking degree of doltishness among the citizenry on such subjects as history and geography? Even the very basic stuff. Granted, there is a tendency to take the most foolish and bizarre responses to interview questions in the interest of entertainment. Yet the federal education study indicates things may be about as bad as they appear.

One of the problems is that there has been so much fragmentation, watering down and “political-correcting” for history courses in grades K-12. Another is that not enough time is devoted to providing a historical curriculum with continuity and depth.

But columnist Page finds a break in the clouds of historical ignorance. “America’s children are flunking American history while their parents and grandparents can’t seem to get enough of the best-selling books churned out by a new wave of media-superstar historians.”

A classic example of “better late than never.” But how might the knowledge gap alter our national perspective? Why should our youngsters be better versed about the backgrounds of fictional people in “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” than they are about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and others? Concludes Clarence Page:

“History gives our schools a chance to inspire as well as educate. I am eternally grateful to the history teachers who helped to inspire me.”

The nation, as a whole, also should be grateful to those teachers who inspire students to understand the perspectives of history.