US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics

[Gunny]

Thu Nov 20, 2:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

"It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI.

"How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience?" he added.

The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics.

more ... US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics - Yahoo! News

Freakin' dummies.

 

[NOBama]

Wow, I actually found something before posting it, using the board search.

It's amazes me that nobody cared to comment on this. It's a sign of the times, I guess.

It's makes me want to send the interviewer guy in the COX commerical to DC to find out what else they don't know!

And people wonder why we're in trouble.

Oh yeah, now I remember, Bush did IT.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I missed this too.

These are the same people who voted in the last presidential election. This is shameful. But the mainstream culture does not put an emphasis in acquiring knowledge which includes memorization. The mantra in the schools is "self esteem." True self esteem comes from achievements. Why should any child in school have their self esteem based on feel-good education?

How can the know-nothing politicians solve the problem of our failing eduational institutions?

 

[editec]

Before you get all hepped up an anti-government propaganda, you might want to look at the principles upon which The Intercollegiate Studies Institute is grounded

Limited Government
The rightful functions of government are to guarantee individual liberty, private property, internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice. When the state exceeds this proper role, it accumulates power and becomes a threat to personal liberty.
Individual Liberty
Individuals possess rights to life, liberty, property, and freedom from the restrictions of arbitrary force. They exercise these rights through the use of their natural free will.
Personal Responsibility
Personal responsibility is central to the idea of a free society and to the concept of self-government. Because each individual is morally responsible for his acts, citizens in a free society have an obligation to educate themselves to further the common good through the political process: this is the proper and necessary function of self-government.
The Rule of Law
Laws, not men, rule a free society. The Constitution of the United States, with its division of powers, is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government while preventing the concentration of power.
Free Market Economy
Allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of a free society, and also the most productive and efficient supplier of human needs.
Moral Norms
The values, customs, conventions, and norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition inform and guide a free society. Without such ordinances, society induces its decay by embracing a relativism that rejects an objective moral order.

Given that the creators of this test are obviously partians, and partisans whose long time goal is the assassination of the concept of government itself, it is hardly surprising that they found the answers of government officials not to their liking.

I have very little doubt that, had I been able to actually SEE this test, I would find it written in such a way as to show you its biases.

When are we Americans going to stop reading headlines and taking them at face value?

The devil is in the details, folks.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Before you get all hepped up an anti-government propaganda, you might want to look at the principles upon which The Intercollegiate Studies Institute is grounded




Given that the creators of this test are obviously partians, and partisans whose long time goal is the assassination of the concept of government itself, it is hardly surprising that they found the answers of government officials not to their liking.

I have very little doubt that, had I been able to actually SEE this test, I would find it written in such a way as to show you its biases.

When are we Americans going to stop reading headlines and taking them at face value?

The devil is in the details, folks.

When are you going to stop making excuses for the people who flunk the test?

You want to water down the test, the way they did to the SAT's so that more people can get better grades.

Let's address the problem at hand which is that the majority of people in our society need to be educated PROPERLY.

 

[editec]

When are you going to stop making excuses for the people who flunk the test?

You want to water down the test, the way they did to the SAT's so that more people can get better grades.

Let's address the problem at hand which is that the majority of people in our society need to be educated PROPERLY.

Oh, please... do get over yourself.

Neither of us can review this test, now can we?

But what we can do is check to see who crafted this test which is what I bothered to do.

And what did I find created this test?

A political 501(c)(3) masquarading as a legitimate educational corporation, that's what.

They are no more an unbiased educational corporation than either political party is.

You may not be aware of how 501(c)(3)s are crafted to be used as political tools to confuse the public but I surely am.

These people are no more interested in education than Karl Rove is.

This organization is part of the neo-cons propaganda machine.

Go check out who sits on their board of directors and all you're find there are political hacks of the rightist persuasion

 

[PoliticalChic]

Oh, please... do get over yourself.

Neither of us can review this test, now can we?

But what we can do is check to see who crafted this test which is what I bothered to do.

And what did I find created this test?

A political 501(c)(3) masquarading as a legitimate educational corporation, that's what.

They are no more an unbiased educational corporation than either political party is.

You may not be aware of how 501(c)(3)s are crafted to be used as political tools to confuse the public but I surely am.

These people are no more interested in education than Karl Rove is.

This organization is part of the neo-cons propaganda machine.

Go check out who sits on their board of directors and all you're find there are political hacks of the rightist persuasion

Thank you for exposing the kind of stupidity, perhaps insanity, that has resulted in the black hole that we call public education. So there is a conservative knowledge? And, I suppose, a liberal or progressive knowledge? What happened, you took the test and got a failing mark? Methinks you protest too much.

We must value knowledge, education, learning. Stop bickering and deal with the question of how we form curriculum, and the testing that must go along with it. Data must inform policy.

On Wednesday, June 6, 1928 the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. In The Meaning of Everything, Simon Winchester discusses the English of the time as follows:

“The English establishment of the day might be rightly derided at this remove as having been class-ridden and imperialist, bombastic and blimpish, racist and insouciant-- but it was marked undeniably also by a sweeping erudition and confidence, and it was peopled by men and women who felt they were able to know all, to understand much, and in consequence to radiate the wisdom of deep learning.”

I yearn for an environment where the population feels this way about learning. I scorn your petty hollow yapping about who wrote the questions. It is knowing the answers that counts.

 

[NOBama]

Giv'em hell, you go PC!!!

Gezus, this article wasn't about grade school kids it was about US Officials.

For cry'n out loud this should have been an easy test for them, no matter how difficult; these people are US Officials.

"How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience?"

 

[Abelian Sea]

the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

This one?

Some of those questions, especially the economic ones, looked debateable to me but there were enough black-and-white history/civic questions that I would expect people elected to government to do better than 44%.

 

[Annie]

This one?

Some of those questions, especially the economic ones, looked debateable to me but there were enough black-and-white history/civic questions that I would expect people elected to government to do better than 44%.

Plenty of us have taken the 'test' and scored in the 80's and 90's, I believe without exception. On another thread, I posted that I'd had my 8th grade class take it, projected on a board, thus the stronger students led the answers, as not taken individually. I 'gave' them the answer to Jefferson's letter being the source of 'wall of separation', with that exception, they missed 1 question.

I have them for 'American History' for two years. I teach the political philosophy underlying the Constitution including Hobbes, Locke, Cincinnatus, Plato, and Aristotle. They are familiar with mercantilism, free markets, Rousseau, Smith. It's done at the middle school level with materials provided free from civiced.org, financed through an act of Congress, the same fools that can't pass the damn test.

 

[Amanda]

I missed this too.

These are the same people who voted in the last presidential election. This is shameful. But the mainstream culture does not put an emphasis in acquiring knowledge which includes memorization. The mantra in the schools is "self esteem." True self esteem comes from achievements. Why should any child in school have their self esteem based on feel-good education?

How can the know-nothing politicians solve the problem of our failing eduational institutions?

It seemed to me like everything was about memorization in school, which I'm not very good at. I don't remember anyone, especially not a teacher, trying to make me feel good about myself.

Teachers used to tell me things like-
Girls aren't supposed to be good at math
You're pretty you'll find a good man
You have such a nice personality you don't have to be smart
blah blah blah
Then again maybe they really were trying to make me feel better about myself... there's a scary thought.

Oh I should add I took that online test and I got less than half right so that probably makes me the dumbest person here.

 

[Ravi]

I have to agree with Edi. This test was written by a highly partisan group so I'm actually happy that the pols did so poorly. And embarrassed so many of us here that took the test did so well. It just goes to show how pervasive revisionist history has become in our country.

I'd like to see the pols take the ap american government test my daughter took this week. 100 pretty tough questions with several I didn't know the answer to...including the fact that US Presidents can actually serve 10 years.