U.S. college students fail civics test

UPI ^ | September 18, 2007 | none

[Hornet19]

“Harvard, even though it scored the highest, was among elite U.S. colleges where students proved dismal in their knowledge of civics and history, a report said.”

That is directly due to the fact that since the federalization of education and the advent of the NEA, students have intentionally been “dumbed down” and turned ignorant in these disciplines.

Sheep are easier to herd than Lions.

[Red Steel]

An OK score:

Civics Quiz

You answered 52 out of 60 correctly — 86.67 %

Average score for this quiz during September: 73.8%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 73.8%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.

[TNCMAXQ]

You are close to my score. I got 47 our of 60, or 78.3%. I could have done better if I had gone slower and read the questions more closely. ;) But some of them are quite hard. Looks like I did better than Harvard students though so that makes me feel good.

[VRWCmember]

My results:

You answered 54 out of 60 correctly — 90.00 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 73.7%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 73.7%

And history was one of my weakest subjects back in high school. I missed one of the economics questions that I really should have gotten right, but didn’t like any of the choices until rereading the correct answer a couple of times after knowing it was the right answer.

[rb22982]

You answered 50 out of 60 correctly — 83.33 %.

Higher than I was expecting.

[FreedomPoster]

It is the job of every citizen in a republic, to have that job.

[absolootezer0]

You answered 52 out of 60 correctly — 86.67 %
Not bad for an engineer.

same score, not bad for a bartender :)

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

55 out of 60, for 91.75% Not too bad, for some really hard questions.

[calex59]

This, in turn, depends on your definition of "republican". Our republicanism is significantly different from the republicanism of, say, the Roman Republic, or even the republics in Europe during the Middle Ages (Novgorod, Dutch, Venice, etc.).

Excuse me, the type of government our constitution established does NOT depend on anyone's definition of republican except that of the people who wrote it. They established a republic, not a democracy. You sound like Clinton and the definition of "is".

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

IMO, "Indirect democracy" is a reasonable-enough description of republican government, since in republican government, the power of the citizens is exercised indirectly through elected representatives.

[brothers4thID]

I concur. And I got a 98.33% having missed question 58. I’ve decided to blame Alan Greenspan for my error.

[DeFault User]

You answered 55 out of 60 correctly — 91.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 74.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.0%

Damn. The ones missed, I think, are open to argument.

[Little Ray]

Well. All I can say is “God bless my parents, my teachers, and Free Republic!”

You answered 55 out of 60 correctly — 91.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 74.1%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.1%
...
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #31 - A. Edmund Burke argued that society consists of a union of past, present, and future generations.
Question #36 - D. The authority of a legitimate sovereign.
Question #38 - A. Military
Question #60 - B. social security.

[Deut28]

You answered 52 out of 60 correctly — 86.67 %

And I’m really kicking myself over one of the questions. I picked an answer before reading all of them.

Some of the questions seemed a little subjective, but a pretty good quiz.

I usually like quizzes that I score 80%+ on though!

[Teacher317]

Equally tough was a course I took that had a "mutliple choice exams". We all celebrated... until it was test time. You had to choose ALL of the correct answers, even if that number was zero. Basically, there were 16 possibilities.

I got Cs on the first two tests until I got used to it. Yee-ouch!

(And yes, I inflicted this kind of test on my honors students from time to time, LOL)

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I’m going to provide another link now. The DUmmies also took this test. I have to say that it looks like we’re doing much better than them...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2995426

[<1/1,000,000th%]

At least the seniors beat the freshmen this time.

[traderrob6]

Better than me, squeeked by with 80% but it’s been 20 years since I was in college.

[dfwgator]

I was surprised by #60, I didn’t realize that Social Security was responsible for so much of our expenditures.

[Little Ray]

Doesn’t surprise me. I just wish I could remember the (wrong) answer I picked was...