Cool article today in the Wall Street Journal, ?Opting to Go Abroad,? describing how U.S. M.B.A students are choosing foreign universities at a much higher rate than in previous years. This got me thinking: as the best and brightest U.S. students embrace international business do they have the necessary global history understanding to be effective ambassadors? According to our 2006 report, ?State of State World History Standards,? the answer is far from clear.
Despite such flexibility, few states got high marks. Just twelve deserved honors grades (As or Bs), while thirty-three received Ds or Fs. There are several reasons for this poor showing, of which the most obvious is that few jurisdictions have stand-alone world history standards. Most wrap this subject into their state's social studies or general history standards. Those could be good, but seldom are, at least not if one is serious about history. We knew this from historian Sheldon Stern's 2003 review of state standards for U.S. history, in which just eleven states earned honors, while thirty-one received Ds or Fs. One would not expect many states to do right by world history if it's immersed in the same thin gruel as American history.
Civics education of all kinds has taken a back seat since NCLB and ?Race to the Top' put English and Math ahead of all other subjects. But, with continued globalization and more US students than ever before venturing out into the wide open world it's extremely important that we provide them with the necessary knowledge to not only succeed but impress.
-Saul Spady, Fordham Intern