If you’ve paid any attention to the news over the last few months, you might have heard- there’s a big birthday celebration this year. It’s the 250th signing of the Declaration of Independence. This is no small celebration. The sheer ability of our country to not just exist but to continue growing and evolving over its 250-year history is a milestone worth celebrating. The big birthday celebration this year is the perfect time for us as Americans (and moms!) to recommit to studying and understanding the story of America, one chapter at a time.
One of the many unintended consequences of efforts by modern presidents (both Republicans and Democrats!) focused on test scores, data collection, and STEM has been a decline in basic understanding of American history among our students. Indiana is one of many states that have started requiring high school students to take the Citizenship Test to graduate high school. The test consists of 100 questions about basic facts about American history. (Passing requires answering 60% correctly). Senate Enrolled Act 132 requires Indiana’s high school students to take the test but not pass it, therefore disincentivizing students from actually learning the material. Additionally, a 2018 study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found only 33% of Americans surveyed could pass the 60% threshold. Additionally, those under the age of 45 had the lowest pass rates (19%), which correlates with national policies that encouraged school systems to move away from a focus on civics and history. As parents, we must recommit to studying and understanding the story of America, one chapter at a time.
Studying and understanding the story of America, one chapter at a time, can feel overwhelming in this current political climate. Depending on where one falls on the political spectrum and the information you consume in your algorithms, you may feel overwhelmed about what you read. If you are on the outliers of the spectrum,you may feel on one extreme that there is nothing to be proud about in our country’s past. Conversely, on the other end, you may feel that any criticism or acknowledgment of missteps in our past amounts to treason. To be clear, I reject both viewpoints vehemently, and I encourage you to do the same. Studying and understanding the story of America, one chapter at a time, requires a word that seems less and less supported in our current algorithm-clickbait, rage-filled environment. It requires nuance.
Accepting the nuances of American history is what allows us to gain a better understanding of the story of America, one chapter at a time. Nuance is what allows us to hold multiple realities to be true in a heterogeneous society. Nuance is what allows that, at the same time Thomas Jefferson was penning the sacred words of the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal”, the American colonies (particularly in the Chesapeake and Southern colonies) were almost wholly reliant on an economic system that denied any basic rights to African slaves who had been forcibly brought here during the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. Accepting the nuances of American history allows us to more fully understand how the ability for women to gain the passage of the 19th Amendment, codifying their right to vote, required women being jailed for peaceful protest outside the White House at the same time the President was leading us through World War 1 to make the world “safe for democracy”.
If we are to improve our understanding of the story of America, one chapter at a time, then we moms must be leaders. We must encourage our families and children to learn about our nation’s past in age-appropriate ways that help them understand where our nation has been and where it will continue into the future. Whether it’s picture books from the library, a visit to Conner Prairie, or just learning more about our nation’s history ourselves, we must take this opportunity to help our children in their understanding of the story of America, one chapter at a time.
