There is an interesting article from Newsmax.com in regards to civic literacy knowledge in our country. The article states that 20 percent of the elected officials who took the 33-question test believe the electoral college "was established to supervise the first presidential debates." If that is not sad enough the elected officials scored lower than their constituents, who also performed miserably in the institute’s third civic literacy study, part of an overall report titled “Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions,” according to Newsmax.com.
Also according to the story, more than twice as many people knew Paula Abdul is a judge on “American Idol” than knew that the phrase, "government of the people, by the people, for the people," is from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In my post "How Obama got elected" I showed a video that illustrated how ill informed voters can dictate an election. I think I have to agree with syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz, when he states that their should be some sort of civics test for voters to pass before they can cast their ballots. I am sure I will be called a racist for that idea, so be it.
Now that you have the answers to two of the questions, take the test and see where you stand.
Participants who ended their formal education with a bachelor's degree scored F’s at an average of 57 percent, which the institute noted is only 13 percentage points higher than the 44 percent average of those with high school diplomas. I scored an 81.82% but I feel that I should have done better, but it has been twenty plus years since college. Good luck!
Take the test at this link:
American Civic Literacy Program Web site
Thursday, November 20, 2008
"We the people"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
90.91%, but that's false. I wouldn't have remembered the Lincoln one unless I read it in your post, and the Jefferson question is fresh in my memory from watching John Adams on HBO. Also, I didn't know "The New Deal," but there was a question on the test that gave the answer -- so it was common sense.
ReplyDeleteI missed 27, 32, and 29... I was sure that a levee was a public good because the government pays for it. I guess I had a momentary lapse and failed to realize that the government's money is our money.
Good quiz, though. I don't usually get a chance to rack my brain.
What is your take on Russia Honeymoon with Venezuela?
ReplyDeleteRussia will exploit our Southern Hemisphere in the same way that the Soviets did in the 1980's.
ReplyDeleteHugo Chavez has purchased over $2 Billion worth of Russian weapons in the last two years alone and I think you will see them build a permanent naval base for the Russians. Granted, the Russian fleet is just a shadow of the vaunted Soviet Navy but they are in the process of rebuilding.
Obama’s first test with the Russians will be if he backs down and forgoes our missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland. If Obama fails that test, Czar Putin will see us as weak and expand in Latin America as fast as he can. Chavez just lost some regional elections this past week and we can only hope the people of Venezuela will soon defeat him at the ballot box. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Thanks for the list to the test. I ended up with an 84.7%. I agree with Boortz about how ignorant the dumb masses are when it comes to what is actually going on in the world
ReplyDelete