Don’t know much about history

Sarah Palin's recent gaffe concerning Paul Revere was unfortunately representative of Americans' ignorance of history.  Her fellow Republican – Michele Bachmann, who recently announced her candidacy for the office of president – evidently didn't know that the "shot heard 'round the world" which started the American Revolution took place in Massachusetts. But for the "Know Nothings" of today's Republican Party, this makes these women emminently qualified to lead the nation.  After all, our children know less and less about history:  according to the recent NEAP Report, only 8% of American fourth graders could identify a photograph of Abraham Lincoln and mention two reasons why he was important.   German schools do better job of preparing children:  German 15-year olds beat their American counterparts in test results for two out of three areas of competence including history. 

Der Spiegel reports on the crisis in US education:

Das aktuellste US-Geschichtszeugnis, gerade vergeben, ist so unmissverständlich wie deprimierend: Amerikas Schüler fallen durch.

("The recent results on US history just released are immistakable as they are depressing: America's students are failing.")

Some of the root causes for the poor scores in history are the "reforms" pushed through by the Bush administration:

Vor allem aber legte NCLB den Schwerpunkt auf Mathematik, Schreiben und Lesen, als Grundlagen wirtschaftlichen Erfolgs. Andere Fächer wurden vernachlässigt – so Geschichte. […]Auch viele junge Lehrer kümmerten sich heute nicht mehr um das Fach. "Sie sind nicht in der Lage, Geschichte zu unterrichten."

("No Child Left Behind placed emphasis on math, writing and reading as the foundation for economic success.  Other subjects were ignored – like history.  Many young teachers can't be bothered any more about the subject. "The are not able to teach history.") 

Der Spiegel also has a quiz on US history:  Wie amerikanisch sind Sie? / How American are you? I achieved a perfect score and got this feedback: 

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Sie wissen ziemlich viel über die USA. So gut wie Sie hat kaum ein US-Schüler abgeschnitten.

(Congratulations! You know a lot about the US. Hardly any American students did better than you.)

Well, I'm confident I did better than Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann would.