"When In The Course Of Human Events..."

I teach an American Government course at a local university, and this past semester I was forced to endure the following class discussion:

ME: So July 4, 1776… what happened?
GIRL IN FRONT ROW: The Emancipation Proclamation?
ME: No.
STUDENTS: (crickets chirping)
ME: C’mon…anybody?
STUDENTS: (more crickets)
ME: What do you all do on July 4th?
GUY IN BACK ROW: Drink.
STUDENTS: (laugh)
ME: But what do you celebrate?
GIRL IN SECOND ROW: Summer!

With my blood about to boil, I decided I’d express my anger in the form of a pop quiz, which I ever so aptly titled: “Questions My 6-Year Old Nephew Can Answer”. There were three simple questions:

• How many states are in the United States?
• Who was the first President of the United States?
• Who is the current Vice President of the United States?

There were 30 students in the class – and to their credit (or to the credit of their 4th grade Social Studies teachers) 26 of them answered all three questions correctly. But of course my attention was drawn to the two students who thought there were 52 states, the four who thought Abraham Lincoln was the first President, and the two – TWO – who couldn’t name the sitting Vice President (they both answered Hillary Clinton).

To me, it was worse than those “Jay Walking” segments on Leno - because they weren’t random people on the street, they were actual COLLEGE students enrolled in an AMERICAN GOVERNMENT course.

I thought it completely and utterly pathetic… yet sadly, quite American. (Although I shouldn’t have been surprised. A survey was conducted back in 2006 that showed more Americans could name the five members of the fictional Simpsons family than could name the five freedoms contained in the First Amendment.)

Yes – July 4th is about spending time with family and watching fireworks and enjoying the start of summer. But let’s not forget that above all else, it’s Independence Day - the day when a group of brave men affixed their names to a document that told the single most powerful country in the world to shove it.

That bravery – and the 235 successive years of freedom that followed – is the true reason to celebrate.