US officials flunk test of Amerian history, economics, civics

Good golly, have you read the summary?? This is where the researchers list their findings based upon the responses to the questions.

Excerpts:

- College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge
Earning a college degree does little to increase knowledge of America’s history, key texts, and institutions. The average score among those who ended their formal education with a bachelor’s degree is 57%, or an “F.” That is only 13 percentage points higher than the average score among those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma.

- Television -- Including TV News -- Dumbs America Down
ISI examined whether other factors add to or subtract from civic literacy and how they compare with the impact of college. The survey revealed that in today’s technological age, all else remaining equal, a person’s test score drops in proportion to the time he or she spends using certain types of passive electronic media. Talking on the phone, watching owned or rented movies, and monitoring TV news broadcasts and documentaries diminish a respondent’s civic literacy.

In contrast to these negative influences, the civic knowledge gained from the inexpensive combination of engaging in frequent conversations about public affairs, reading about current events and history, and participating in more involved civic activities is greater than the gain from an expensive bachelor’s degree alone.

Hm; combination of engaging in frequent conversations about public affairs, reading about current events and history, and participating in more involved civic activities...sounds a lot like us DPers, doesn't it?

...and this:

After all the time, effort, and money spent on college, students emerge no better off in understanding the fundamental features of American self-government.

That advertisement for homeschooling is brought to you by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. < grin >

I thought that I did pretty well. The questions were pretty easy. I have to give credit to my high school U.S. History teacher for teaching me the TRUTH about our history.

.....My first thought was that I was happy to have a result that was WAY better than the politicians......but then I realized that bar was set kinda low to start with.

Guess I need to do a little more reading.

75.76%.

Like most indoctrination test I took in the school systems, the right answer was often not in the list. Therefore, like real life, tried to choose the least wrong

Ron Paul - Hope for America

Guess this makes me ineligible for office! ;}

The questions I missed were 8, 30 and 32.

I thought it was a difficult test. Learned quite a bit after taking it and then researching/studying the correct answers. I'll chalk it up to learning something new every day.

The "test makers" are wrong about #30.

A couple I should definitely have known, the others were more intuitive. What is what actually should happen, or what actually happens? That's the question. I didn't feel too bad about it since I have not taken a U.S. History course since I was in my early 20s and I am 52.

Healthnut4freedom

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5,6

I got 87.88% right. 29 out of 33 questions.

Frankly, a LOT of the questions were no-brainers. No wonder our country is in such a big mess, both with the elected officials and voters.

I shouldn't be surprised. It seemed I was the only one in my economics class who knew who the president was when the New Deal was instituted. Also, what the New Deal was about. Sigh... (yes, it's a Keynesian course - I've ordered books to correct my thinking over Christmas break.)

I got 96.9%

I would like to see how the DP'ers score on it..

I took the quiz and scored almost 88%. My sister who doesn't follow politics much nor have the same grasp of economics scored over 75%. Many of the elected representatives who took this quiz scored 44% while the average American scored 49%. No wonder we have these people elected year in and year out with such a lack of understanding of the issues and then people want change and elect the same nonsense. There was another quiz that asked voters about Obama and McCain and the majority of Obama supporters scored under 50% on this quiz as it tested their knowledge of the candidates. McCain supporters scored over 75%.

I have to thank each and every person who froze in the northern states to protest the Federal Reserve and it appears that we must continue to fight this battle as it's going to take a long time to teach America the problems we face...but then again, I fear that the end of the USA is near and that the next step we have is to get ready for the real battle to defend the very Liberty we all desire. Keep up what you're doing and do not give up on educating others as it's always best to work peacefully to solve these problems rather than having a hot war with countless lives lost.