1 This issue is one that Neal Boortz and I never differ on--government schools & their founding mission statement of creating people who would not be great thinkers, just good workers.

And, we're far enough into this that the teachers aren't even really that literate in history unless they have educated themselves.

2 To put this into perspective, how many Americans would have done well on this test in previous decades or the last century?

My guess is that knowledge of facts has only slightly declined (in other words, it's never been high) whereas values have become more socialist. Somebody a century ago wouldn't have known a whole lot about the American Revolution, but he might not think "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" had anything to do with its principles (even if he had never even heard of Marx).

Given a choice, I would rather have someone with American principles and without historical knowledge than the reverse. There are Leftists who know about the American Revolution and American history in general in great detail. Yet they voted for Obama. Rightists do not have a monopoly on Revolutionary knowledge. Shared knowledge of facts does not necessarily lead to shared interpretations of those facts.

Results also revealed that 90 percent of Americans think that knowledge of the American Revolution and its principles is very important

I don't think piety on paper is meaningful. People say whatever they think the tester wants to hear. In real life, nearly all of these people get along just fine without knowing anything about the American Revolution despite their claims to the contrary. The remaining 10 percent may be honest.

If Americans were really "yearning to know", the commercial networks would be showing Revolutionary War shows, RW books would outsell Harry Potter and The Secret, etc.

89 percent of Americans expected to pass a test on basic knowledge of the American Revolution, but scored an average of 44 percent.

Inflated self-esteem is a major product of American 'education'.

Joanne Jacobs' comments section has further discussion.