Historians tend to tell the same joke when they are describing history education in America. It's the one 1 the teacher standing in the schoolroom door 2 goodbye to students for the summer and calling 3 them, "By the way, we won World War II." The problem with the joke, of course, is that it's 4 funny. The recent surveys on 5 illiteracy（无知） are beginning to numb（令人震惊）: nearly one third of American 17-year-olds cannot even 6 which countries the United States 7 against in that war. One third have no 8 when the Declaration of Independence was 9 . One third thought Columbus reached the New World after 1200. Two thirds cannot correctly 10 the Civil War between 1850 and 1900. 11 when they get the answers right, some are 12 guessing. Unlike math or science, ignorance of history cannot be 13 connected to loss of international 14 . But it does affect our future 15 a democratic nation and as individuals. The 16 news is that there is growing agreement 17 what is wrong with the 18 of history and what needs to be 19 to fix it. The steps are tentative （尝试性的） 20 yet to be felt in most classrooms.