Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here.
The Mississippi Board of Education will soon decide whether to end the U.S. history assessment that our students must pass before receiving a high school diploma.
Today, Mississippi students take four subject matter tests before graduating. Three are federally mandated: algebra, biology, and English. U.S. history is not, so it has landed on the chopping block. Some students would undoubtedly welcome the change, but we believe it would do them a disservice.
One of us is a member of the Board of Education — and the only one to vote in April against this proposal to eliminate the American history test. The other is a concerned citizen and statewide elected official. We both share a deep interest in giving Mississippi’s students everything they need for success in our rapidly changing world.
When our students cross the graduation stage, they reach out to receive their diploma. The hand-off is more than a picture-perfect moment. It is a symbol of one generation bestowing the responsibilities of citizenship onto next. In Mississippi, those duties come quickly. We hold elections every single year. Within one or two cycles, all the graduates will have had a chance to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It would be reassuring to know they are equipped with the civics and history knowledge they will need to choose wisely in the ballot box.
The current U.S. history assessment helps us prepare them for a life of citizenship. Students field questions about historic American political parties and the views these groups espoused. They are quizzed about the effects of landmark legislation and asked to place significant national events in chronological order. By the end, students have demonstrated familiarity with technical political science terms. Graduates walk the stage having handled such topics as tariffs, the Federal Reserve, income tax, and the Monroe Doctrine – each a timely issue.
Members of the Board of Education have been weighing the pros and cons of keeping the test, such as: Each assessment eats into student and staff time. Administering the test is not free. Teachers could use extra time to give students practical career skills. Removing the history exam can make way for workforce training. A U.S. history course will remain a graduation requirement, so eliminating the test frees educators from “teaching to the test.”
We are sympathetic to each of these important considerations. Education is a complicated endeavor, full of trade-offs. But the test has two primary benefits, and they are worth the costs. The first goes to the students, who leave the test room more conversant in American history than many of their fellow citizens. They understand the forces that have shaped our nation, and they can develop informed opinions about political candidates and current events. The second benefit reaches the students who will come next. Every assessment gives us valuable insights by which we can hone curriculum and teaching strategies.
Our state has been making remarkable strides in education, and this progress is equipping the very Mississippians who will lead our state into the 21st century. As they take on our future, we believe they should be as knowledgeable as possible about our past.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, is chair of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee. Wicker has served in the U.S. Senate since late 2007 and previously served in the U.S. House and in the Mississippi Senate, where he was a member of the Education Committee.
Mary Werner was appointed to the Mississippi Board of Education by former House Speaker Philip Gunn. She is a former business owner in the Lee County area and is active in the community, including previously serving on the North Mississippi Health Services Board and currently is on the North Mississippi Medical Center Clinics Board. She previously was a high school English teacher.
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