ACTA teams up with Gfk Roper OmniTel to conduct a new survey on American historical literacy. Again, the results are troubling. Less than half of the college graduates surveyed could identify George Washington as the general at Yorktown. Only 20% could identify the “Father of the Constitution.” Less than half of college graduates surveyed could identify the war in which the Battle of the Bulge occurred. Only 17% knew the source of the phrase, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
A new survey commissioned by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni sheds a bright light on our nation’s civic knowledge crisis. Colleges and universities significantly contribute to the problem by chipping away at their core requirements in essential areas of knowledge; students graduate unprepared for informed citizenship and the workforce. U.S. history is often […]
In honor of the 70th anniversary of D-Day, ACTA releases a GfK survey on historical amnesia about World War II. The study found that a quarter of American adults don’t know that D-Day occurred during World War II. It also found that more than half of American adults—including 43% of college students—don’t know Franklin D. […]
The Founders admonished that informed, engaged citizens would be the indispensable guardian of our liberty. ACTA’s surveys, however, administered over the past two decades, reveal that our schools—and especially our colleges and universities—have done a poor job of ensuring the civic literacy on which our nation depends. Too many institutions fail to require courses that […]
According to an academic watchdog study less than one-third of the top schools in the United States require history majors to take a class in American history, according to a study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a non-profit academic watchdog. The Council surveyed each undergraduate program in U.S. News & World Report’s […]
A recent study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni titled “What Will They Learn?” graded 1,070 colleges and universities on the strength of their general education curriculum—as determined by the number of core subjects outside a major they require students to take in order to graduate. Those seven core subjects include composition, U.S. […]
Refuse to think, assume the worst, overreact, disregard laws and rules and then pronounce yourself someone standing up for the best in education. That’s what we’ve recently witnessed in Colorado’s Jefferson County, the scene of pretentiously delinquent student walkouts and teacher stay-at-home protests cheating young people out of learning. Let’s get to the protests and […]
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
Discover MoreSign up to receive updates on the most pressing issues facing our college campuses.