Updated: Presidential Knowledge is History

Back in the fall of 1963, I began the second grade at the newly-reopened Cutler School. The building, which had previously served as Holliston’s High School, had been vacant since the opening of the new high school (now ) on Woodland Street in 1957.

Being an older building, it offered little in modern conveniences. I remember walking into Mrs. Truesdale’s class for the first time and being surprised to see ancient wooden desks, with a hole in the top-right corner. These holes, we learned, were inkwells, where students of an earlier generation would dip their pens while writing their papers. I was also surprised that the school had no cafeteria, and students carried their lunches in metal boxes, usually decorated with popular cartoon characters. But just outside Mrs. Truesdale’s first floor room hummed one small sign of progress. In the hallway sat a large, white freezer, from which was dispensed our daily ration of Garelick milk.

It cost just three cents then for a half-pint bottle of nature’s most perfect food. But the three cents, cheap even by 1963 standards, purchased far more than calcium and vitamin D for my classmates and me.

Each bottle was capped with a thin cardboard disc through which a straw could be pushed. And printed on these caps was the name, likeness, and years served for one of our 35 presidents.

These caps became instant collectibles for many of the students. They would be traded like baseball cards; imagine offering a Garfield and McKinley for that coveted Van Buren. When Kennedy was assassinated, we waited for months in anticipation for the newly-released Lyndon Johnson. Without effort but with great interest, we learned about the men who led our country. And now, almost 50 years later, I’m sure most of us from that classroom retain an understanding and appreciation for the events that have shaped our country, as well as for the men most responsible for who and what we are today.

, I wrote with dismay about the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's failure to implement the scheduled MCAS testing for history and social science this year, purportedly due to its $2.5 million cost. This week, in his article “The Dumbing-Down of America,” Pat Buchanan wrote of the staggering ignorance of American fourth, eighth and 12th graders based on their results in history tests administered by the National Assessment of Education Progress. American author and historian David McCullough is quoted as stating that “We’re raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate.”

Parents of children in towns such as Holliston may believe themselves immune to such charges, but as Bill Cosby might say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

To test this belief, I decided that I would give a quick, random quiz to obliging high school-aged students attending the Lions Club carnival on Saturday night. I wanted to get some idea of where our students stood in comparison to the national results referenced above. The results were not very encouraging.

I asked if they could name our first four presidents in descending order. I thought that James Madison, our fourth president, might be difficult for some, but that the first three should be fairly easy. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I asked 22 students, aged 12 to 19 (average age around 15) this question, and no one knew Madison. One 13-year-old and one 14-year-old could name Thomas Jefferson as our third president, while four students knew John Adams as our second president. Thankfully, all of them could name George Washington as our first president, except for one 16-year-old Holliston girl who answered George W. Bush. Close.

Not all of these 22 students were from Holliston, and in the "misery loves company" department, Holliston parents might take comfort in knowing that a 19-year old girl, a product of the nation's 95th best high school, could only correctly name Washington.

As a backup question for a handful of students who had previously heard the first, I asked if they knew the capital of Connecticut (Hartford). A silent stare is all I received in response.

It was with some pleasure that I was approached by an 18-year-old, St. Anselm’s College-bound girl from Andover, who having heard of my quiz, proceeded to name all the presidents in order with little difficulty. I don’t know how she gained her knowledge, but am sure it was not through the discovery of some long lost bottle cap collection. Regardless, I was pleased to know that someone of her generation understood that our country is more than last week’s news, that it is an evolving puzzle where the first pieces inserted are every bit as important as the last.

And for me, as our , it’s frustrating to see our students' results while remembering the lasting knowledge that was once available for three cents.

WHO AM I NO. 24 REVEALED

The race is finally over.

I’m happy that I won.

The ,

While .

Way back when in high school,

With brown hair and still small,

Who would have thought that I

Would grow up grey and tall.

Who Am I? I am Jay Leary.

FERDENZI EARNS ACADEMIC HONOR AT EMMANUEL

Holliston’s Daniel Ferdenzi, who attends Boston’s Emmanuel College, was recently named a Great Northeast Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference selection. Ferdenzi, a 2009 graduate, is presently a sophomore at Emmanuel and a member of the school's golf team.

While at HHS, Ferdenzi played on the football, basketball and baseball teams. His twin brother James, who participated in football and track while in high school, is a member of the track team at Emmanuel.

In order to receive this award, students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25 through their sophomore year, while participating at the varsity level in a GNAC-sponsored sport.