Few historians would argue that large-scale multiple-choice tests capture the range of meanings we attribute to the “historic sense.” Such tests are used not because they are historically sound or predict engagement with historical study, but because they are easily read by machines. The prototype of these, the Markograph, was invented in 1933 by a Michigan science teacher fed up with hand-grading student papers (later he sold the rights to IBM for $15,000).46 That a Depression-era technology still shapes the tests we give to students is a national shame.
