Marshall University students are making similar mistakes students made on a national study released Tuesday.
Rick Hess, American Enterprise Institute researcher, wrote a study surveying 1,200 students on general history, according to USA Today, released Feb. 26.
"If you think it matters whether or not kids have common historical touchstones and whether, at some level, we feel like members of a common culture," Hess said in Tuesday's edition of USA Today. "Then familiarity with this knowledge matters a lot."
The study found half of 17-year-olds have a problem identifying books or historical events, according to USA Today. These books and historical events included "1984," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," communism and the Civil War.
When asked to explain the theme of "1984" by George Orwell, 52 percent of the students in the study were able to do so.
A group of four Marshall students consisting of freshmen and sophomores were asked some of the questions asked in the national study.
All four of the students were asked to choose the theme of "1984." None of the students were able to answer correctly. The common response among the four was "destruction of the human race by nuclear war."
The main topic in "1984" is Big Brother, in which citizens are constantly watched by the government and start to lose their sense of individuality.
The study also showed only 51 percent of students knew what controversy involved Senator Joseph McCarthy during the mid-1900s.
Ashlee Sowards, 20, sophomore from Salt Rock, W.Va., answered the question correctly by choosing "communism." Two other Marshall students responded with "democracy" and the last with "fascism."
Half of the Marshall students surveyed knew the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900. The other half responded with between 1750 and 1800.
A little more than 40 percent of the students in Hess' study knew when the Civil War was fought.
All students surveyed on campus knew which president said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" and what led to the United States entering into World War II, including Tahessa Hetzer, a 20-year-old sophomore from Barboursville, W.Va.
Hetzer and Sowards also knew what Job is known for in the Bible. Hetzer answered correctly with "patience during suffering."
As half the Marshall students knew the correct answer, only half of the students surveyed in the study knew what Job is known for as well.
However, 97 percent of the students knew Martin Luther King Jr. wrote "I Have a Dream."
"What a better thing it would be if people also had the Civil War part and the civil rights part, and the Harriet Tubman part and the Uncle Tom's Cabin part," Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham said in USA Today.
Whitney Johnson can be contacted at johnson253@marshall.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!