ON-AIR: Study shows college students fail at history

By Dan Howell

A new study suggests American college students know very little about American history.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute reports that seniors in college have failed to learn America’s history, politics and economics.

Senior Research Fellow in Civic Literacy Doctor Gary Scott says more needs to be done to get students at an acceptable level.

“Course quality needs improvement. Which means faculty needing to identify the most important content, they need to have high homework standards, they need to deliver it in a vivid way so it’s put in long term memory, and finally they need to master the prerequisites before moving forward. So more courses and better courses.”

The ISI surveyed over 14,000 freshmen and seniors at college campuses across the country.

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The University of Illinois wasn’t one of the schools involved in the study.