The Ignorant Young

Last night, I broke bread with some young musical theater friends, teenagers and in their early 20's, and I was pleasantly-surprised at their level of understanding of musical theater history, as they recalled fairly-obscure events from the 1930's and 1950's as if they were contemporary events.

We tend to remember those historical events that we are most interested in.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that the newest worrisome report has come out, in a long line of worrisome reports, lamenting teenagers' historical knowledge:

Among 1,200 students surveyed:

•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.

•52% could identify the theme of 1984.

•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.

In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.

Fewer (77%) knew Uncle Tom's Cabin helped end slavery a century earlier.

In the 19th-Century, and the first half of the 20th-Century, it was easier to have a common, mostly-Christian culture, based on the Bible and a few key texts from literature, such as those by Shakespeare. Blessedly, and sadly, those days have passed, and we are still struggling to assemble a Common Culture, now incorporating scientific thought, that is still compact enough to learn in the few years we are in school.

In some ways, Celebrity Culture is a stand-in for Common Culture, because, being both compact and universal, it can be mastered in a fairly-short time. We should give Celebrity Culture its due respect.

If it's any consolation, Australians are having exactly the same problem educating all the young dunderheads Down Under who can't remember what "ANZAC" stands for. I reprint portions of Emma Tom's funny 2006 column on the subject:

ONCE again, Australian school kiddies are in big trouble. According to a new report commissioned by the nation's education ministers, bucketloads of the ignorant little buggers don't know why we celebrate Australia Day, have a governor-general or whack a Union Jack in the corner of our flag.

...Here's the thing, though. If students are required to swot up on subjects politicians think are important (namely history, civics and blindly swallowing spin), surely politicians should have to gain a rudimentary knowledge of something young people rate highly, namely pop culture.

Last week during the electioneering in Victoria, punters were treated to what has become a pre-poll staple: candidates making tokenistic appearances on yoof media programs and revelling in their dearth of pop cultural knowledge, wearing their ignorance (or at least their professed ignorance) of Paris Hilton's shaggin' habits like rosettes of honour.

On the penultimate day of the campaign, Steve Bracks and Ted Baillieu accidentally ended up on air at Fox FM at the same time. Neither was able to answer questions about Jessica Simpson, Australian Idol or even the winner of the Melbourne Cup.

Bracks knew that the horsies that came first and second were Japanese and did a great job, but after that he drew a blank. Perhaps because the steeds in question were named Delta Blues and Pop Rock - two genres far too popular to warrant attention by a publicservant.

...One Australian broadsheet - regarded as a quality publication - regularly charts the most clicked-on stories from its internet site. Worthy, eat-up-your-broccoli reports on tax revenue, resource management and factional infighting (the political equivalent of celebrity gossip) rarely rate a mention.

Instead, the A and AB-demographic readers of this particular organ prefer feasting on fast food features about grisly baby deaths, celebrity sex romps and cyclops kittens. On Monday, the fifth most popular story here was Crocodile yak: Elton shouts at shoes - 321 words about Elton John dashing off stage for a Down Under chunder during the first performance of his latest Australian tour. Apparently a guitarist masked the knighted pianist's sudden and wordless exit by noodling an impromptu solo.

While I'm not suggesting that knowledge of such an event be tested in HSC exams, it is worth ditching the heated, high versus low culture debate for a moment and looking at the situation from a realpolitik perspective.

Growing political disengagement among young people is regarded by many pundits as a serious threat to democracy, with party membership, trust in office-holders and interest in traditional politics plunging faster than a Brownlow Medal ceremony neckline.

Reaching these voters requires learning to speak their language or, at the very least, not taking such elitist delight in disparaging it.

After all, a well-rounded education involves learning about the past and the present, the weighty and the whimsical. It means knowing why the Queen is our head of state, as well as the state of head queens such as Sir Elton Sparkly - particularly if you're a flesh-presser serious about being seen as a representative of the people.