Civics Literary Test

[Luke Skywalker]

How well informed are you about American history and political concepts?

http://www.isi.org/quiz.aspx?q=FE5C3B47 ... 2BB31E2692

Here is a not-so-encouraging study of the average scores of various demographics, including Harvard graduates:

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/20 ... ml#table21

I scored a 95%.

[Adept]

75.76% or 25/33.

I'm a born and bred Canadian citizen. Mind you, we get quite a fair injection of American history (or, at least, its overlap with Canadian history) in the elementary and secondary school curriculums.

[whackadoodle]

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?
Your Answer: Declaration of Independence
Correct Answer: Gettysburg Address

Probably due to a familial/genetic tendency of "Yeah, Lincoln? Fuck that guy."

Seriously, though, this "Intercollegiate Studies Institute" claims only 55% of "college educators" ( that phrase can include T.A.'s, for fuck's sake ) pass?

Let's see, who is this ICS?
Ah, it was founded by Frank Chodorov and William F. Buckley. A paleocon stink-tank/reeducation camp.
Readers may draw their own conclusions.

[whackadoodle]

75.76% or 25/33.

I'm a born and bred Canadian citizen. Mind you, we get quite a fair injection of American history (or, at least, its overlap with Canadian history) in the elementary and secondary school curriculums.

Shit, man. All I know about Canadian history is that you freed yourselves in glorious revolt from the evil Brewmeister Smith, led by the Heroes, gay-married brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie, in the Hockey Wars. You are now lead by their adopted son, Glorious Leader Stephen Harper, who also starred in Easy Rider.

[Ziggy Stardust]

That's a ... strange selection of questions. Also, the conservative bias is extremely evident in the later questions.

[whackadoodle]

That's a ... strange selection of questions. Also, the conservative bias is extremely evident in the later questions.

Yeah. As I covered in my earlier post, this is a conservative "think(heh!)"-tank pushing out quizzes and "factoids" to advance a conservative agenda.

[spaceviking]

24/33. Though I am Canadian, and did not study U.S in school that much.

[Feil]

100%, but some of those questions were all kinds of vague and required guessing the test-writer's intent, rather than deducing the correct answer. And yes, I noticed a conservative bias in a few of the wordings and answer selections.

[Korto]

Should the average American be embarrassed that I got 91%, despite the fact that I couldn't care about what a bunch of yanks do, or their constitution? Two of the three questions I got wrong were basically "What did some old guy I don't care about argue about with some other old guy I don't care about, before I was even born?"

"College educators scored 55%" Oh crap Forget embarrassed, try absolutely humiliated.

[FaxModem1]

I got a 90.91 percent. So score one for Americans.

[Gandalf]

100%!

Good on me. Thankfully I did a semester of American History last semester.

[Highlord Laan]

78.79% 26/33 correct. No surprise to me, the questions I got wrong were mainly the business related ones, the other was where "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" came from.

All in all, nobody here has any reason to fail this thing if they even pretended to pay attention in school. Or they're pant-on-head retarded. I think the vast majority of Americans ignored the former, and actively embrace the latter out of patriotism.

[Dargos]

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.

You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.

.Incorrect Answers
Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?
Your Answer: Declaration of Independence
Correct Answer: Gettysburg Address.

Its been awhile since I've read the Gettysburg Address. Other than that, I really don't see HOW the average score could be so low. The questions are not hard.

[Guardsman Bass]

100%.

Some of the questions are odd, though. Particularly the question about Aquinas and Socrates.

[Skgoa]

100%!

Good on me. Thankfully I did a semester of American History last semester.

Do they teach "stupid memes about economics that were never true" in that class or how did you manage a perfect score on the later questions?

[Feil]

100%.

Some of the questions are odd, though. Particularly the question about Aquinas and Socrates.

I found that one straightforward. Anyone who has read those four philosophers should know the answer immediately, and even someone who is only loosely familiar with who they were should be able to derive it by elimination.

[The Grim Squeaker]

http://www.isi.org/quiz.aspx?q=FE5C3B47 ... eSupport=1


You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %

Missed on the definition of the Puritans, and how the Electoral college works.

[Crazedwraith]

78.79 %

Which is more a comment on how lucky I am guessing since as a brit my american history consisted of some stuff on the slave trade and civil war.

[lance]

90, missed on bill of rights, abortion and why communism is bad

[Dominus Atheos]

Can someone explain this one to me?

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

Aren't both true?

[Losonti Tokash]

The government still has debt even if revenue and expenditures are equal for a given year.

[Terralthra]

Can someone explain this one to me?

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

Aren't both true?

If the Federal government balanced its budget tomorrow, we'd still have a fairly large debt to pay off.

[PeZook]

87.88%

I have a feeling the average tests results they show are just made up, because really, come on, some random Pole scored so high yet college educators get 55%? No fucking way.

EDIT:

Also, - knowledge about the space program and thinking capitalism is awesomesauce = civics literacy

[Skywalker_T-65]

100%.

And I'm a College student so that is depressing if they have the 55% as true.

[Thanas]

32 out of 33.

I really doubt that 55% of college educator were wrong on that.