Full Civic Literacy Exam

Intercollegiate Studies Institute ^

[jda]

The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the test was 49%; college educators scored 55%.

[Mrs. Don-o]

100.00 %

Your Ranking
Philosopher-King

Just like don-o

What He Said!

[goodnesswins]

I just took the test...there were 33 questions....I did much better than college educators, but still learned some things....

[Durus]

True, but on the other hand, not only indviduals are taxed.

[goodnesswins]

This is a test that should be used to qualify VOTERS....that, and property ownership....

[jpsb]

Missed two, but i think i was correct on the frist one.

Question: What is federalism?
Your Answer: A political system where the national government has ultimate power.
Correct Answer: A political system where state and national governments share power.
.
Question: The phrase that in America there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state appears in:
Your Answer: the Constitution
Correct Answer: Thomas Jefferson’s letters..

[Ratman83]

Thank you, I understand.

[Republican Wildcat]

There were 33 questions when I clicked the link and took the test as well.

[Republican Wildcat]

There were 33 questions when I took quiz.

[WKUHilltopper]

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

Stupid Plato! LOL

[ol' hoghead]

You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %

[No Truce With Kings]

“Don’t see how the others got away with ten questions.”

I think we must have clicked on the full test while others clicked on a shorter version. I got 33 questions, and got all 33 right. Didn’t seem that hard to me. (I got the Puritan question right because I knew which three answers were wrong. Same for a few others.)

[bvw]

Ditto!

If taxes equal government spending, then:

Your Answer: government debt is zero

Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

That's not correct. In that case the government can bank the income and still borrow. Why would they do that? Borrowing feeds money to favored bankers. Another REALLY questionable one:

Question: A flood-control levee (or National Defense) is considered a public good because:

Your Answer: government pays for its construction, not citizens

Correct Answer: a resident can benefit from it without directly paying for it

There's plenty of things that a person (why did they use "a resident"?) can benefit from without paying for it that are NOT public goods. For example the good health of my neighbors. MANY others. In actually none of the answers they provided properly describes "public good" as used in this context.

Some dictionaries give definitions that accord to the meaning I chose on their test, but again, that's not a great answer either.

The place to look for the proper answer is in the legal rulings related to Eminent Domain, especially public rights-of-way. Unfortunately the majority in the abysmal Kelo ruling really f'd it up.

Yet the Thomas dissent says

The Framers embodied that principle in the Constitution, allowing the government to take property not for “public necessity,” but instead for “public use.”

[bvw]

Switzerland is an example of a Federal Republic, if that helps you.

[jpsb]

thanks did a little reading, guess I was wrong after all. Oh well.

[PhatHead]

I see now there are two quizzes. The link to the article at the top of this thread goes to a 33 question quiz, while the link to "Test" in Post 1 goes to a 10 question quiz. My earlier comment stands - I'm appalled by the average scores reported (elected politicians scored below 75% on every single question asked!) Here is my score on the longer quiz:

[pgkdan]

Results

• You answered 10 out of 10 correctly — 100.00 %

  Your Ranking

  

  Philosopher-King

  In ancient Greece, this was Plato’s ideal ruler in The Republic; combines both wisdom and power.

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

[TheEditor]

32/33 here.

[okie01]

bookmark

[antidisestablishment]

Kelo epitomizes the state of our country. I still find it hard to believe that our “conservative” justices passed this abomination.

[PhatHead]

Sorry, but your answers really were incorrect - the questions were a bit narrower than the way you seem to be construing them:

If taxes equal government spending, then:

Your Answer: government debt is zero

Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

That's not correct. In that case the government can bank the income and still borrow.

Your explanation at the end ("government can...still borrow") is the reason that your answer above was wrong. The question says nothing about debt, but asks what happens if the government spends no more than what it takes in from taxes. The question and answer are really a basic tautology.

Question: A flood-control levee (or National Defense) is considered a public good because:

Your Answer: government pays for its construction, not citizens

Correct Answer: a resident can benefit from it without directly paying for it

There's plenty of things that a person (why did they use "a resident"?) can benefit from without paying for it that are NOT public goods.

Sure there are, but again, that wasn't the question. The question asked only why the two named examples would be considered public goods. Your answer, unfortunately, is the one too many politicians follow, which is that government funding is itself the definition of a public good. It ought to be the other way around - being a public good should be a necessary (though not sufficient) justification for public funding.