【英语国际】美国学生欠缺历史知识

Fewer than a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea's ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.

The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America's role in the world.

Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were 'proficient' or 'advanced,' unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.

The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient, unchanged since 2006. More than half of all seniors posted scores at the lowest achievement level, 'below basic.' While the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders have seen a slight uptick in scores since the exam was first administered in 1994, 12th-graders haven't.

One bright spot in the data was the performance of African-American and Hispanic students in fourth and eighth grades. The average score of Hispanic fourth-graders jumped to 198 last year, versus 175 in 1994, which helped shrink the gap with their white counterparts. In eighth grade, black students improved to 250 points in 2010 from 238 in 1994. At the fourth-grade level, the gap between Hispanic and white students was 39 points in 1994 and 26 points in 2010. In eighth grade, the black-white gap narrowed to 23 points in 2010 from 28 in 1994.

The overall lackluster performance is certain to revive the debate about whether history and other subjects, such as science and art, are being pushed out of the curriculum because of the focus on math and reading demanded under the No Child Left Behind federal education law. The federal law mandates that students be tested in math and reading.

Sue Blanchette, president-elect of the National Council for Social Studies, a national association of K-12 and college social-studies teachers, called the results disheartening and said history education has been marginalized in the last decade.

'Everyone is going to participate in civic life by paying taxes, protesting against paying taxes, voting, and we must teach our children how to think critically about these issues,' she said. 'Clearly, we are not doing that.'

Ms. Blanchette said her group wants the history test administered every two years, like the national math and reading exams, instead of every four years. 'What gets measured, gets taught,' she said.

Stephanie Banchero

美国公布的全国历史考试结果显示，不足四分之一的12年级学生知道中国在朝鲜战争期间是朝鲜的同盟，四年级学生中只有35%知道《独立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）为什么颁布。

全美教育进步评估（National Assessment of Educational Progress）的考试结果表明，美国学生自2006年开始在对重要历史题材的理解上几乎没有进步，这些题材包括民主的基本原则和美国在世界的角色。

Associated Press美国公布的全国历史考试结果显示，四年级学生中只有35%知道《独立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）为什么颁布。参加过2010年历史考试的学生中，只有20%的四年级学生和17%的八年级学生成绩为 “熟练”（ proficient）或“高级”（ advanced），与上一次2006年考试的结果相同。熟练意味着学生对材料有扎实的理解。

中学的情况更糟糕，12%的12年级学生成绩为熟练，自2006年以来没有变化。高中高年级学生多半的分数都在最低的“低于基础”（ below basic）水平。四年级和八年级学生的成绩自1994年首次举行考试以来略有提高，12年级学生则没有提高。

数据中的一个亮点是非裔美国人和西班牙裔四年级和八年级学生的表现。西班牙裔四年级学生的平均分去年从1994年的175提高到了198，帮助他们缩小了与白人学生的差距。在八年级学生中，黑人学生平均分从1994年的238提高到了250。四年级学生中，西班牙裔和白人学生之间的差距在1994年是39分，2010年为26分。八年级学生中，黑人和白人学生之间的差距从1994年的28分降到了23分。

这种毫无起色的整体表现必定会重新引起人们争论，由于《不让任何孩子落后》（No Child Left Behind）联邦教育法要求重点抓数学和阅读，历史和科学及艺术等课程是否在被挤出课程表。该法案强制规定学生进行数学和阅读考试。

美国全国社会科学协会（National Council for Social Studies）侯任会长布兰切特（Sue Blanchette）称此次结果令人灰心，并说历史教育在过去十年被边缘化了。该协会是美国中小学（K-12）和大学社会科学教师组成的全国联盟。

她说，每个人都将通过缴税、抗议缴税和选举参与公民生活，我们必须教孩子们学会如何对这些问题进行批判性思考；显然，我们并没有这样做。

布兰切特说，协会希望历史考试的频率和全国数学和阅读考试一样，由每四年改为每两年举行一次。她说，考什么，学生就会学什么。

Stephanie Banchero

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