History News Network

Departments

University students 'ignorant' of most basic history facts, study shows

Professor Derek Matthews was so surprised to discover that the students in his economics class at Cardiff University had such a poor grasp of British history that he decided to conduct an experiment.

He set five easy questions, which he believed 'every 18-year-old should know', and over three years 284 first-year university students took the test.

The results confirmed his fears. Just one in six knew that the Duke of Wellington led the British army in the Battle of Waterloo, while only 11.5 per cent could name a British Prime Minister from the 19th century.

On average, the students answered just over one in five questions correctly, and those with history A-level only got two in five right.

In a report on the 'death' of school history teaching, Prof Matthews said the levels of ignorance were an "outrage".

Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 6:47 AM | Comments (0) | Return

Home Newsletter Submissions Advertising Donations Archives Internships About Us FAQs Contact Us All Articles