About a week ago, the American Civic Literacy Organization offered a test which was taken by over 2,500 Americans. This test is designed to measure your "basic" knowledge of American history, politics, and economics. Results from the test, which were released on the news, show that exactly 71.4% of Americans got a flat out "F" on the test, with an average score of about 49%. Amazingly enough, those who took the test who said they have held political office at some point in their lives scored even worse, with an average score of about 44%. Those DP members that are willing to challenge themselves can click the following link to take the test:http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx If you guys want, you can come in and post your scores. Don't try to cheat, only 21 people out of 2500 scored higher than 90%. I'm proud to say that I scored higher than 90 percent of everyone who took the test, but I did not make as high a score as I would have liked. Regardless, this test and its results show that what I've been saying in this forum for years is true: As a group, Americans are some of the most ignorant people on the planet. We don't know even the most basic facts about our government or economics, and you wonder why we are headed into a depression? When you consider the scores from this test, it all starts to make sense. This test also shows that the Jay Leno skit where he goes around asking Americans basic questions which they get wrong is not acting: tests like the one I link to above show that Americans are indeed clueless. The hard truth is that this nation will not remain prosperous and free as long as its citizens are ignorant and dumb. The American Civic Literacy Organization indicated that "too much television watching" and "a lack of reading" were one of the main things which contribute to such low scores. As Thomas Jefferson said: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and what never will be.
I'm almost certain that we would see similar results in other countries.. I don't know about you guys but I love reading and learning and putting my knowledge to use. It's too bad I wasn't mature enough back in school to pay attention or care to learn. But lets face it, it's easy to forget alot of things you learned in school. People lead busy lives these days and just don't care (or) have the time to care about what historical event might have taken place back in July 17, 1856. However, I do care and have a huge passion for things such as my country's history and things like astronomy. But I'm not quite as busy as most people. I have to disagree with you about us being the dumbest people on the planet. Some of the greatest things the world uses today was invented/made by "ignorant" Americans.
You're right, Americans are too busy struggling to work to pay off all the money we borrow, and that does take away the time you have to start reading, and also explains why our economy is going into the toilet. I think there is a connection between over 70% of Americans failing a test which goes over the history and politics of their own country, and the loss of freedoms that we are experiencing. Notice that "politicians" scored lower on the test than citizens. This means that the people who we elect in office, who are responsible for pushing certain laws, don't even know the history and political process. How long can this nation remain free when our elected officials are more clueless about the nation than the citizens? Hey touchAshley, do you know what the Posse Commitatus Act is? Do you know that the police are civilians just like us. Are you familiar with the Glass Steaghall Act, passed during the Great Depression? All of these things have an impact on your life, and if our government starts violating these things, it WILL effect your life, whether you care about history or not. The Posse Commitatus Act BLOCKS the police in the U.S. from being merged with the U.S. military. Do you know why that law was passed? To protect you from your government, and the police forces. The Glass Steaghall Act was passed in the 1930s to block banks from being involved in investments, but since most Americans never heard of this act, the banking industry had "no" problem getting this law repelled in 1999, and look where we are almost ten years later: headed into a depression, caused by the very thing that the Glass Steaghall Act was designed to prevent. You emphasized the word "was," which is past tense. You're right, we create amazing inventions in the past, but I can assure you at the rate we're headed, advances in technology are going to start being made in India, China, and other nations, because how can we continue to create great inventions when over 70% of the country fails a test regarding economics and the history of their nation? You are right, citizens of other countries would probably score the same, but this isn't "other" countries, this is the U.S. Our freedoms are being taken away all the time, and one reason why is because most citizens don't even know what their freedoms are. In the past, Americans were some of the most well read people in the world; In fact, a man who was well read was attractive to the ladies, and vice versa. But not in 2008, it seems like a guy has to be a complete moron these days to pick up a girl. It is amazing how times change. The inventions that you are talking about were created in a time when this country was full of people who enjoyed reading, who considered learning to be a luxury. Those days are gone.
touhAshley, there is one more thing I wanted to add. I'm a self employed business owner who works more than 50+ hours each week, and I rarely take time to relax, go out, or do anything of the sort because I'm often working, and yet, I have read TWENTY FIVE books so far this year. Are you more busy than I' am? There is no excuses, statistics show that Americans spend an average of 4 hours per day watching tv!!
The test is flawed. Here is one of the flaws. A bit after the above question, they ask the below question. Easy way for an otherwise ignorant buffoon with basic logical inference skills to score 3% higher in the test. Then you have to account for random guesses turning out right and lucky breaks. So the actual figure may in fact be worse.
Canadian here and scored: You answered 21 out of 33 correctly — 63.64 % not bad at all I say since I have not been to an American school system nor taken American history lessons. Canadians too need to study American history for their own good.
I scored 75%, not as high as I would have liked, but higher than 90% of the people who took it! Wow, a Canadian scored a higher average than most Americans, that is sad, but good for you M5love! I don't know if anything higher than a 71% failure rate is possible, but with Americans these days, who knows?
I think it goes beyond laziness or lack of time management skills. I think we promote a culture of ignorance in all these subversive ways in the US. For instance, the generally snide and sarcastic tone of American culture makes it more appropriate to ridicule someone and laugh at them for saying something wrong than to correct them and discuss something. Another way we promote ignorance in the US is by stereotyping intellect. The intelligent must be flimsy and unattractive according to modern stereotypes. Kids don't want to grow up and be flimsy and ugly do they? So they better not become too much of a book worm or a nerdy gerdy or whatever the hell kids call each other these days. Of course it is all perspective. If you refuse to interact with ignorant people you can pretend that there aren't any. There are also different kinds of intelligence too. A multiple choice civics test is a pretty poor indicator of anything but perhaps a knowledge of 8th grade civics. You answered 26 out of 33 correctly — 78.79 % I was a B student.
you forget that only 3% of Americans are managing main part of international business? who care that 97%
32/33, I totally bombed on "Government of the people, by the people, for the people" Good quiz, I got my degree in political science and minor in economics and history so I basically spent four years studying this stuff - and I had to stop and read everything carefully and look for little phrasing tricks. You probably won't find me running for office or working for the established media, I know better!
It's common knowledge that Americans are very ignorant of anything outside of their country. I explained this as Americans being more self-sustained than most countries. However, when I see threads like this, I am proved wrong: it seems that the average American doesn't know much about his or her own country, either! Americans have made some great discoveries. They have among the best universities in the world, and among the most intelligent people in the world. However, the evidence suggests that the average American isn't very intelligent. I don't think it's just a myth. The other day, some guy on TV was talking about his trip to America. He said that he was asked what language we speak in England! That's a profound and shocking level of ignorance!
I found the "further findings" part really interesting where it compares what percentage of people knew what. At least half of average citizens who took the test didn't understand who had the power to declare war... pretty much sums up how we got to Iraq.
lol this is ridiculous, you rightly said, it's because of the ignorance.. which no doubt came with the hollywood "culture", pleasures,,etc.. add to that the constant "struggle" to be on top of the competition.
Yep, the governments of the world have a long history of manipulating the ignorant public; in the past they were more overt about it. For example, at one time in the American South, a Black slave who was caught reading or trying to become literate could be severely punished. It wasn't big secret that plantation owners wanted their slaves nice and ignorant; and this made the slaves determined to educate themselves. The same phenomenon has been true throughout much of history, only the scribes or priests were allowed to read or write. Today, it is no longer necessary, or even possible, to block people from reading and educating themselves. All you have to do is entertain them with the Superbowl, American Idol, and video games to the point where they don't want to read. Then you set up the economic system so most Americans are so busy working jobs to pay off their debts that they don't have time to read. This combination is enough to put the country in the current state its in. I congratulate those who scored higher than me; those who scored lowered are unlikely to even bother to come in the thread and show it. It is scores like this which reaffirm the reality that at some point I need to become wealthy enough to leave this nation and retire on some island enclave, because I'm almost 98% certain that this country is going to experience a massive collapse at some point in the near future. There is no way the public can be this ignorant and expect to maintain their freedoms. It is impossible, as their are snakes operating within our government who have been eroding our liberties for decades, and only an educated public can stop them in their tracks.
^ Too late for that, recent news tells us that civil war is likely in the coming years in America. One such example: Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster "Domestic security"
You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 % Average score for this quiz during December: 75.3% Average score: 75.3% The test is flawed. I don't see how Business profit are related to the founding of our country other then Business is a function of society but even in Zimbabwe there is some buying and selling something.