Monday, 2/21

I think the statistic says all that needs to be said about the state of this country these days.

A couple of days ago on the air I gave out a “Weird Fact” that, I'm guessing, didn't surprise a lot of people. And since it's Presidents' Day today, I'll share it here, as well. It's not a made up fact; a U.S. university actually did a study, and this is what they found out--

The average American 10-year old can only name four presidents. The same average American 10-year old can name eight brands of beer.

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Now, maybe I'm just a little sensitive about the subject. After all, I was the dorky kid who once collected Presidential trading cards off the back of Cheerios boxes, and was the dorky kid who once wrote and gave a speech for a Presidential candidate when I was in the second grade...and then had to give it to a third grade class because I was, you know, such a dork. Obviously, when I was 10 years old, I knew more than just four Presidents.

So you can see why the statistic made my jaw drop.

But I think the statistic does say a lot about what kids learn these days. I don't wanna sound like one of those people who starts every sentence with “back when I was a kid”, but, ahem, back when I was a kid we got to learn about things like Presidents in school. We got to learn about things like Presidents on the back of a cereal box. I don't know what gets taught in history or social studies classes these days, but I'm guessing it's not Presidents.

And I'm certainly hoping it's not brands of beer.

Of course, the whole thing is quite ironically funny because if kids wanted to learn about Presidents they have a resource much better than the back of a cereal box—they have the Internet. The name of every single U.S. President is available with the click of a mouse, and yet either the ability to find out who those people were or the interest to find out who those people were is lacking.

Now, I realize that history of how a democracy works probably isn't as important to some people as how many kinds of beer are out there, but you know that old line about getting the government we deserve? If you only know four U.S. Presidents (I'm guessing, if I had to, they'd be Washington, Lincoln, the last one, and the current one) and you aren't aware of the struggles, triumphs, victories, and just plain stupidity of the rest, they do you really have enough knowledge and experience on which to base your vote as an adult?

Think of it this way--10-year old kids are eight years out from voting, and they're 11 years out from (legally) drinking. Yet they're better prepared for one than the other.

The past few years have made me wonder if people really care about a functioning democracy. Seeing a statistic like that makes me wonder even more.

(jim@wmqt.com)