WASHINGTON: Nearly six in 10 US senior high school students lack even a basic knowledge of their country’s history, news reports said on Friday.

After administering a test, Education Department officials said the nation’s “report card” was “abysmal”, especially among older students, the Washington Post said.

The exam, given last year to 29,000 students at 1,100 public and private schools, found that few gains had been made since most students flunked a similar test in 1994.

Fifty-seven per cent of seniors failed to reach a basic level, 32 per cent performed at the basic level, 10 per cent reached a solid academic standard and just 1 per cent were deemed advanced.

Among the results of the 2001 History Report Card:

- Only 39 per cent of eighth-graders knew that the key factor leading colonists to form America’s First Continental Congress was frustration with laws passed by the British Parliament.

- Just 57 per cent of fourth-graders knew that a major cause of the American Civil War was the split between the North and South over slavery.

- And a mere 29 per cent of 12th-graders knew that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave US President Lyndon Johnson authority to expand the Vietnam War.

“What this report card is telling us is that too many of our public school children are still struggling in this critical core subject area,” said Education Secretary Roderick Paige.—dpa