Students fail civic knowledge

[Lazar]

From News 9 in Oklahoma City:

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.

The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.

Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.

"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

The questions are easy as hell.

[Sonic Glitch]

You know.. I used to think Dave Barry was joking when he'd put lines in his columns/books such as "45 percent of students identified Abraham Lincoln as 'a type of lobster.'" Now I'm not so sure...

[Sionnach Glic]

Jesus Christ. I could get most of those questions right.
For those interested, the questions and the percentage that answered them correctly:

What is the supreme law of the land?
28
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
26
What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
27
How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?
10
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
14
What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?
61
What are the two major political parities in the United States?
43
We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
11
Who was the first President of the United States?
23
Who is in charge of the executive branch?
29

[Tyyr]

Lovely.

We really need to stop calling it the education system. It doesn't educate. It's public daycare.

[sunnyside]

I'm still not so quick to simply blame the education system. I think this is more of a "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" problem.

I think this ties into an article I read recently. Our top rated science and technology high school is merit based to get in. Despite Asians being a smaller minority in the area overall, they now make up the majority of students that get in, due to coming from and/or maintaining a culture that values education.

The above are civics/history related questions, and while getting high school students to care enough is a general problem, those areas are at the bottom of the barrel.

They consider much of civics, history, and geography useless. That goes even for many smart kids who are big on math and science.

The problem is compounded by the fact that, for the most part, they're right.

But the problem is that you don't have to pass a civics test in order to be able to vote, and that's where high schoolers not having a clue is bad for all of us.

Though on that note I have a feeling it isn't a coincidence that the study was sponsered by a conservative think tank. In my experience when someone starts going on about the constitution, past wars, fighting for independence, or history in general they more often than not have conservative leanings.

[Sonic Glitch]

I'm still not so quick to simply blame the education system. I think this is more of a "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" problem.

I think this ties into an article I read recently. Our top rated science and technology high school is merit based to get in. Despite Asians being a smaller minority in the area overall, they now make up the majority of students that get in, due to coming from and/or maintaining a culture that values education.

The above are civics/history related questions, and while getting high school students to care enough is a general problem, those areas are at the bottom of the barrel.

They consider much of civics, history, and geography useless. That goes even for many smart kids who are big on math and science.

The problem is compounded by the fact that, for the most part, they're right.

But the problem is that you don't have to pass a civics test in order to be able to vote, and that's where high schoolers not having a clue is bad for all of us.

Though on that note I have a feeling it isn't a coincidence that the study was sponsered by a conservative think tank. In my experience when someone starts going on about the constitution, past wars, fighting for independence, or history in general they more often than not have conservative leanings.

Considering I am a teenager, am majoring in Education to teach High School History, and am shamelessly liberal, I must disagree with your last point somewhat Or at least inform you that there are exceptions to the rule.

Part of that Apathy is why I want to go into teaching in the first place. I'm not going to delude myself thinking "I can suddenly make all my students care about history!" but I can damn well try! I had a number of excellent history teachers who managed to engage most of the class. I can only hope to emulate them.

[sunnyside]

Considering I am a teenager, am majoring in Education to teach High School History, and am shamelessly liberal, I must disagree with your last point somewhat Or at least inform you that there are exceptions to the rule.

Just to be clear I'm not saying that liberals are generally oblivious to civics and history or something like that.

What I'm saying is that political arguments and positions based on the constitution, civics, and history and the people making them are more often conservative.

For example if you didn't have a good history or civics teacher, do you think you'd be a republican now? How many of your stances are based on those things?

Wheras history/constitution etc form many of the arguments with groups like The Constitution party, the NRA, and US Libertarians(who aren't exactly conservative, but typically get binned in with them, and should horrify anyone with moderate socialist leanings).

[Mikey]

While this sucks, it's not news. This has been an ongoing problem, recently aggravated by "No Child Left Behind." In the school at which my wife works, two teachers (albeit ESL teachers, not born or raised in the US) swore up and down that Washington, D.C. was, in fact, located in West Virginia.

[Sionnach Glic]

Jesus Christ. Even I know which state the capital is in, and I've never even been there.

[Mikey]

Jesus Christ. Even I know which state the capital is in, and I've never even been there.

Really? Do tell. (Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this.)

[Nickswitz]

While this sucks, it's not news. This has been an ongoing problem, recently aggravated by "No Child Left Behind." In the school at which my wife works, two teachers (albeit ESL teachers, not born or raised in the US) swore up and down that Washington, D.C. was, in fact, located in West Virginia.

The Valedictorian of my class swore it was in PA, and he was born, raised, and educated in NYS...

[Mikey]

The Valedictorian of my class swore it was in PA, and he was born, raised, and educated in NYS...

Well, Philadelphia was the capital once, briefly...

[Sionnach Glic]

Jesus Christ. Even I know which state the capital is in, and I've never even been there.

Really? Do tell. (Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this.)

Well, geographicaly it's within the borders of Maryland. But it effectively counts as its own "state", right? That is to say, Maryland's government has no control over what goes on there and it has its own administration.

[Nickswitz]

The Valedictorian of my class swore it was in PA, and he was born, raised, and educated in NYS...

Well, Philadelphia was the capital once, briefly...

Wasn't that when D.C. was burned... I really don't remember my U.S. history well...

Well, geographicaly it's within the borders of Maryland. But it effectively counts as its own "state", right? That is to say, Maryland's government has no control over what goes on there and it has its own administration.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! haha

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Well, I am proud to inform you that I am qualified to be a US Citizen (though I was born one).