Don't know your history? You're not alone. A recent study of 14,000 students from 50 different colleges showed that college seniors and freshmen failed a test of 60 multiple choice questions on U.S. history, government, America and the world and market economy.

This failure may reflect a lack of effort on behalf of high schools, both public and private, to adequately teach their students the basics of American history and government. Perhaps this failure of secondary schools is the reason for such a dismal result, but we cannot fail to educate ourselves in the past, simply because it shapes the current political and legal climate around us.

As Americans and citizens of the world the laws and conventions of our individual countries are based in the past and we cannot truly understand the context of society without studying the past. There are countless events of great import, hidden from casual view by the mantle of decades, centuries or millennia.

Requiring a course in history would not effectively solve this quandary because it would not inspire enthusiasm for history, which is at the root of the problem. History education is critical for a multitude of reasons and as Aristotle phrased it: "If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development," and the task facing all students is not merely to learn history but to understand its significance in modern times.

The events of Sept. 11 are already history, and it is up to our generation to impart the impact of that event to our future children and grandchildren.

While the events of that day are more vivid to us, there are events in past decades and centuries spanning from the establishment of our written Constitution to the Civil Rights movement that have shaped our current society that are just as important.

So we are faced with the choice of either decrying the failure of high school history courses or seizing upon the opportunity to study the past and discover the significance contained therein.