Demagogue

I when I first read this my brain, acting in self-defense, exchanged "college students" for "7th graders."

I think it might have been an attempt to prevent me from bashing my head against the wall after finishing the article.

In a recent survey of college students on U.S. civic literacy, more than 81 percent knew that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was expressing hope for "racial justice and brotherhood" in his historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
That's the good news.

Most of the rest surveyed thought King was advocating the abolition of slavery.

Why are our children not learning?

In many schools across the country, teachers say social studies has taken a back seat under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which stresses math and reading. Squeezing history into the curriculum can be difficult, educators say, and taking time out of a scheduled lesson to use a federal holiday -- even King's -- as a teaching moment can be tough.

Welcome to the new America where history doesn't matter because life is too hard if you're required to think and know stuff. Context and comprehension is for the birds.