Americans don't know much American history

Every day I learn that most Americans don't know much American history. Are our schools that bad, do people just forget, or maybe it's to overwhelming to deal with. So when people in the government say things like "what the founding fathers wanted" and "what the founding fathers intended" maybe we should be trying to be and doing better then them. I'm sorry if this fact make people feel sad but it still matters. I'm always telling people American history is depressing, people don't seem to know why. If not now when?