Pencils out, clear your desks. Pop quiz!
What ”inalienable rights” are referred to in the Declaration of Independence? What are the three branches of government? Name a right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Which branch of government has the power to declare war? And finally, what percentage of Americans failed a test of these and other basic civics, history and economic questions?
Seventy-one percent. Yep. More than seven out of ten earned an F.The average score was 49%. USA Today reports that of 164 respondents who say they have held elected office, 44% was average.
Without knowledge of your country’s history, key texts and institutions, you don’t have a frame of reference to judge the politics and policies of today,” Richard Brake, head of the institute’s American Civic Literacy Program, tells the paper.
Take the quiz yourself, or give it to your students right here. And after they’re done and you’re thoroughly depressed, here’s a link on how to become a Core Knowledge school.
I found this year’s ISI quiz to be easier than last year’s. This year, I missed one question, for a score of 96.97%. Last year, I only scored 86.67% (though one was a boneheaded mistake where I read too quickly and confused Andrew JOHNson with Andrew JACKson).
The strange thing is that I can’t think of any reason why I’d have a greater knowledge of basic U.S. civics this year than last year. We’ve been covering ancient times in history in our homeschool so it’s not like I’ve been brushing up on the subject.
The question I missed was the one about the definition of a “public good”. I’ve never formally studied economics & I had narrowed the choices down to 2 possibilities but guessed wrong. I had plenty of company on that one, though- only 34.12% got the correct answer.
And yet the sponsor of this quiz, ISI, continues to endorse a philosophy of government that the American electorate has soundly rejected in this year’s civic responsibility crash course. Funny thing about that.
I just took it and got 96.97% (I missed the if taxes = spending question because I misinterpreted the “per person” choice).
But while the “civics” questions seem pretty straightforward, the economics questions seem both more technical (what policy tools the Federal Reserve has) and more ideologically loaded (international trade leads to increased productivity).
I’d also like to know more about their survey methods. I find the “elected official result” very strange.