Civics quiz

[sixty_something]

THE SURVEY

In a random survey of 2,508 Americans taking Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s civic literacy test, 71% failed. Nationwide, the average score on the test was only 49%. Is it any wonder why GWB was elected twice? In our Election Day poll at FIBSboard Barack Obama won in a landslide. Let's take this quiz and see just how literate we are as US and world citizens in American Civics.

The test contains 33 questions designed to measure knowledge of America’s founding principles, political history, international relations, and market economy.

While the questions vary in difficulty, most test basic knowledge. Six are borrowed from U.S. government naturalization exams that test knowledge expected of all new American citizens. Nine are taken from the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests that the U.S. Department of Education uses to assess high school seniors. Three are drawn from an “American History 101” exam posted online by www.InfoPlease.com. Two were developed especially for this survey and the rest were drawn from ISI’s previous civic literacy tests.

REPORT CARD

[table=]
Grade, Number Surveyed, Percent Surveyed
A (90 to 100%), 21, 0.8%
B (80 to 89.9%), 66, 2.6
C (70 to 79.9%), 185, 7.4
D (60 to 69.9%), 445, 17.8
F (59.9% and below), 1791, 71.4
Total, 2508, 100.0 [/table]

In a small sampling of FIBSters in Shouts, 4 Europeans and 2 Americans reported their results. All the Europeans scored 59% or better, 10% to 20% higher than the national average in the original random survey. One American scored 94%, moi. The other American said there were too many questions and didn't complete the quiz.

MAJOR FINDINGS

The results reveal that Americans are alarmingly uninformed about our Constitution, the basic functions of our government, the key texts of our national history, and economic principles.

• Less than half can name all three branches of the government.
• Only 21% know the origin of the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people”
• Only 53% know to whom the power to declare war belongs.
• Only 55% know the source of authority over U.S. foreign policy.
• Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits in Article I.
  
• Less than one in five know the source of the phrase “a wall of separation” between church and state.
• Americans from all age groups, income brackets, and political ideologies fail the test of civic literacy.

• Americans age 25 to 34 score an average of 46% on the exam; Americans age 65 and over score 46%. 
• Americans earning an annual income between $30,000 and $50,000 score an average of 46%; Americans earning over $100,000 score 55%. 
• Liberals score an average of 49%; conservatives score 48%. 
• Americans who go to church once a week score an average of 48%; Americans who never go to church score 50%.

ADDITIOANL FINDING

Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public

The ISI civic Literacy survey was not designed to test the civic knowledge of elected officials, but it did discover evidence of an interesting pattern that may merit further exploration.

Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions.

Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%).

CONCLUSION

If we fail to teach our children how American freedom was established and preserved, we cannot expect them to pass it on to future generations.

[spielberg]

Spoiler

73 % --- among lots of others I got the FDR ? deal wrong (the Britland socialists have corrupted me with talk of New Deals), the Thompson wrong, misremembered when the Civil War was so got the question on slave policy wrong and never thought federal government could make treaties - we live and learn.

[close]

[playBunny]

26 for the non-American bunny.

Spoiler

What's the Russian Sputnik satellite got to do with America??

[close]

[sixty_something]

Spoiler

Sputnik was a really, really big deal at the time, 1957, PlayBunny .. Americans were shocked out of the complacency that being almost alone atop the military, technological, and scientific communities had brought after WW II .. added to the nationwide frustration of the Korean Conflict, it created a significant rush toward teaching mathematics and sciences in public schools and colleges .. a push, occurring when i was age 11, that directly effected my early education - i was a Math Team stud in Number Sense and Slide Rule, but won the Civics jacket in my Senior year .. within a few years after Sputnik, JFK issued the challenge of placing a man on the moon in his 1960 inaugural address and the rest of the 20th Century is history .. sadly, today's American public school students regularly fare about as well in math and science international rankings as did the average respondents to this survey, if not worse .. so it goes, but don't count us out, just down at the moment

[close]

btw, i also heard from 3 other Americans in shouts and tells who did not report their scores here of 29, 28, and 10 - far above the national average for all but one of us .. way to go Team USA!

[playBunny]

sadly, today's American public school students regularly fare about as well in math and science international rankings as did the average respondents to this survey, if not worse .. so it goes, but don't count us out, just down at the moment

I'll leave you to count yourselves out. That way by the time your counter struggles to 10 the improvements will have been made!

[Zorba]

Well I scored a C, 24 good, 73% ... can I vote now? 

[sixty_something]

  fine by me, Zorba .. i'd trust your vote more than the average American or the two others who said they scored 30+ and didn't comment

i strongly suspect our two other A students were most likely Republicans whose high opinion of themselves was so secure an actual test of their knowledge was neither needed nor desired .. like the Know Nothing party of the 19th Century which ultimately just faded away, knowledge, particularly about civics or history, is mindlessly assumed and seldom tested or displayed by their ilk - witness the witless braindead lame duck administration of GWB .. hopefully, i'll be proved wrong, but i'll offer a 100 Nacci wager to each to come out of the closet and answer ten random questions from previous Civics Literacy tests with 90% accuracy in shouts
still bitter about flushing American idealism down the drain? who me? 

[socksey]

Actually, one of them was me.     I am neither Republican............can't stand them except for my mom and, well, I can't not stand her, can I, NOR do I have a particularly high opinion of myself.         And NO, I will not answer civics questions in shouts!  It was probably a fluke that I scored that high, or else I've been learning more than I thought I was over the years.  

socksey<----------our of the closet



"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" - Mahatma Gandhi

[sixty_something]

  wtg, socksey .. i knew i was likely sticking my foot in my mouth, but was feeling grouchy and cranky (note to self: when foot is being inserted into mouth, don't swallow)

it is obvious we fibsters are a bright bunch .. even our world citizens are scoring well ahead of the national averages - 49% on controlled random survey and 77% during November for on-line users - very impressive  results