75 Percent of Oklahoma High School Students Can't Name the First President of the U.S.

news9.com ^ | 9/17/09 | staff

[Nachum]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.

The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.

Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.

[BnBlFlag]

Well, at least 11% of ‘em know which are the two major Parties in the U.S.

[BnBlFlag]

Well, at least 11% of ‘em know which are the two major Parties in the U.S.

[dusttoyou]

No surprise in Texas.

[Condor51]

Yeah, let’s let the average person have a say in how things are run. That’s a good idea!

Originally the "average person" DIDN'T have a say. Only Land (property) Owners could vote. It changed to all 'Free Men' in the 1840's or 1850's.

And people wonder why I’m a monarchist.

And that's why I think it should go back to only property owners being allowed to vote. The idea that some Oprah viewing, section 8, lay-about slug with eight kids by six men, can raise MY TAXES fries my @$$ to no end!

[Lmo56]

We’re doomed.

***

Shows you why Civics MUST be re-instated as a MANDATORY graduation requirement ...

[A. Patriot]

I’m sure that less than 0.0001% of the 75% of OK kids that didn't’t name Washington named John Hanson instead. And, no, John Hanson was not the first president of the United States.

I bet not one of them even knew of the Continental Congress. I was never taught it in school or college and learned it through self study and the History Channel.

I apologize to those of you who took offense in me bringing up a little studied part of American history. Read my first post. I never said Washington was not the first president.

[JD91]

The fact that we are having this conversation speaks volumes about the upbringing and education we experienced compared to the students this article is about. It seems that most of this conversation would sound like Swahili to the High School students in Oklahoma (giving implied accuracy to the polling results).

[B-Chan]

And that's why I think it should go back to only property owners being allowed to vote.

I'm with you. The idea of making a body temperature of 33°C the sole qualification to vote is, frankly, nuts.

[MARTIAL MONK]

I wouldn’t worry too much about Oklahoma. According to the ALEC there are 15 states with school systems worse than theirs. They done good.

[Lucky Dog]

It's a free country.

In deed, it is... A fact for which I am grateful on a routine basis, especially to all those, such as my son, who stand in harm's way, to keep it so.

Some FReepers like to conflate unrelated things to prove their points of view.

Obviously, you intend to imply that conflating [con⋅flate  [kuhn-fleyt] –verb (used with object), -flat⋅ed, -flat⋅ing. to fuse into one entity; merge: to conflate dissenting voices into one protest.] is undesirable as you would contend that the two things are unrelated. However, I must disagree with you.

The President to which you refer is a presiding officer. It obvious that such is not the case for just the committee. Therefore, if the Congress is not in session (if it were one could argue that he would be presiding over Congress) he must be presiding over the something else.

Given the phrase in which this President is designated:

...appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction—to appoint one of their members to preside

It seems to me that the President so named is in fact presiding over other civil officers and affairs of the United States. Ergo, he would be the President of the United States.

[Lucky Dog]

It seems that most of this conversation would sound like Swahili to the High School students in Oklahoma (giving implied accuracy to the polling results).

Unfortunately, it would appear that your assessment is closer to the truth than I would care to admit.

[Lucky Dog]

See posts 63, 79, 85. You might find them interesting.

[Deo volente]

Yeah but how many know who Barry Switzer was?

That reminds me of a joke:
Norman, Oklahoma is a drinking town with a football problem.

[normanpubbie]

Did you mean 63, 79, and 110?

I found #85 interesting, even fascinating. But then I wrote it :)

Yes, I found your comments interesting.

Re post 110: On the conflation part, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But I must commend you for going back to the source documents and basing your assertions on them. I wish more FReepers would back up what they say.

[A. Patriot]

From the article I posted:

...Thereafter, the president was occasionally referred to as the “President of the United States in Congress Assembled”, although “President of (the) Congress” continued to be used in most official documents.

[Non-Sequitur]

Norman, Oklahoma is a drinking town with a football problem.

Which reminds me of a joke. I've heard that they're thinking of changing the lyrics to the Oklahoma fight song because the student body has problems remembering the words.

[Lucky Dog]

But I must commend you for going back to the source documents and basing your assertions on them. I wish more FReepers would back up what they say.

Thank you. Allow me to return the compliment. Such action makes for a far more civilized and informed debate.

Re post 110: On the conflation part, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In that case, I fear we must agree to disagree. However, as another poster observed, the fact that we are discussing the Articles of Confederation is indicator of the difference in the educations we received contrasted with that noted in the article that began this thread.

[WKL815]

Thanks for the charts. Now I’m hoping the surveyists just got punked.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[BipolarBob]

I bet you wish you were back at the plant right now. There’s changes you wouldn’t believe.