Do You Know Civics?

Off Topic Politics and World Issues
1

Students at elite universities know even less about American history and government when they graduate than when they enroll.

The NY Sun reports ( http://www.nysun.com/article/62901 ):

[i]At universities such as Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Duke, and Berkeley, seniors scored lower on the test than freshmen, living proof of the broadening relevancy of the old Harvard adage that the university is a storehouse of knowledge because "the freshmen bring so much and the seniors take away so little."[/i]

Here’s the test:

I missed three (got 95% correct) - I refuse to identify which ones because at least one was embarrassing. But then again, I didn’t get the benefit of a Yale education…

The average score is a 73.6%.

See how you do.

2

Aww, come on – no one wants to see what he knows?

3

70%

4

Six wrong, four of which are very embarrassing. More like they just slipped my mind. the other two contained documents or authors I’d never heard of before. Of course, I only took AP US just last year…

5

You answered 55 out of 60 correctly �?? 91.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 74.7%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.7%

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

Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #21 - A. support ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Question #30 - D. establishing an official religion for the United States.
Question #43 - A. A state that seeks to expand its power generates resistance by other states.
Question #60 - B. social security.

6

[quote]orion wrote:

Average score for this quiz during September: 74.7%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.7%

[/quote]

Apparently we’re raising the average - this morning it was 73.6%

7

I just lowered the average. Shit, I’m never arguing with anybody on this board again. I’ll just sit here politely and learn.

8

You answered 56 out of 60 correctly �?? 93.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%
…

Answers to Your Missed Questions:

Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #53 - B. a resident can benefit from it without directly paying for it.
Question #54 - D. can be reversed by government spending more than it taxes.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.

9

"You answered 59 out of 60 correctly �?? 98.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

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.
You can consult the following table to see how freshmen and seniors scored on each question as part of the survey administration.

Where to from here?
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans."

And we didn’t even have to take history at
Maryland Institute College of Art (maybe that helps?)

10

I “answered 59 out of 60 correctly �?? 98.33 %”.

I answered question #60 incorrectly.

11

I think I would have done better if my wife wasn’t yapping at me for the last ones.

12

I haven’t even thought about some of those questions in over 20 years.

Is there a curve for senility?

I scored a 75

13

I scored a 96.67% - I missed two.

14

52/60, 87%.

Of course, I already knew that my post-WWII formal education was abysmal.

15

You answered 56 out of 60 correctly �?? 93.33 %

swers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #31 - A. Edmund Burke argued that society consists of a union of past, present, and future generations.
Question #38 - A. Military
Question #48 - C. reduces money�??s purchasing power even when some prices decrease.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.

I have no excuse for missing 38 and 48, but there was no way I was getting 58 right.

mike

16

65 %

17

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Aww, come on – no one wants to see what he knows?[/quote]

I got 51/60, 85%. Not bad for a 53 year old math teacher. The business questions got me bad.

How the hell does an old guy like me outscore those college kids? I think a lot of the questions were a matter of how widely read a person is — how many kids know who Socrates was, for ex.

I’m going to send this to our Poli Sci folks. Thanks, BB!

18

[quote]100meters wrote:
"You answered 59 out of 60 correctly �?? 98.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

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.
You can consult the following table to see how freshmen and seniors scored on each question as part of the survey administration.

Where to from here?
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans."

And we didn’t even have to take history at
Maryland Institute College of Art (maybe that helps?)[/quote]

Damn! Quite a score!!

19

[quote]NealRaymond2 wrote:
I “answered 59 out of 60 correctly �?? 98.33 %”.

I answered question #60 incorrectly.
[/quote]

Another Massachusetts high score! Maybe the libs (are you a lib, Neal?) are smarter than all of us red staters! :smiley:

20

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
… are you a lib, Neal? …
[/quote]
Not remotely liberal on social issues.

On economic issues: somewhat sympathetic to the welfare state, but reluctantly accepting of the fact that it usually does more harm than good.

Also, with regards to my score: there were a number of questions where I didn’t really know the stuff “cold” but I was able to eliminate the other choices as either incorrect or less likely.