Failing Our Students, Failing Our America....

[ashbeeigh]

Yeah. I bet you can't score over a 67% on this test....




Washington, D.C., September 18, 2007 – The second in-depth study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) reveals that some of the most expensive universities, with the highest paid presidents, are among the worst-performing in the country regarding the teaching of America’s history and institutions to their undergraduate students. These universities, which also receive some of the largest government subsidies, include the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and Duke.
“Higher education is a $325 billion business where at many prestigious universities presidents earn half-a-million dollars a year or more,” says Josiah Bunting, III, chairman of ISI’s National Civic Literacy Board. “Ironically, based on our research, the lowest gains in knowledge in America’s history and institutions are found at many of these elite universities where their presidents are simply not doing enough to help preserve our traditions of freedom and representative government. The time has come for higher education’s key decision-makers—state legislators, trustees, donors, alumni, faculty, students’ parents—to hold the nation’s colleges and their presidents accountable for teaching their students America’s history and institutions.”
Complete results from ISI’s second study are being released today in a report titled Failing Our Students, Failing America: Holding Colleges Accountable for Teaching America’s History and Institutions. The new study adds 32 universities not included in ISI’s landmark inaugural study, but the results remain the same. The nation’s college freshmen and seniors again scored just over 50 percent, or an F, on the exam, statistically corroborating and confirming the initial study’s findings that ISI released last September.
The study of more than 14,000 randomly selected college freshmen and seniors at 50 U.S. colleges and universities was conducted on behalf of ISI by the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP)—which administered a 60 multiple-choice question civic literacy test about America’s history, government, international relations and market economy. For the first time, ISI’s American civic literacy test is available in its entirety along with the full results at www.americancivicliteracy.org.



Take it here. (http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/)

It takes about 30 minutes to take, but is interesting and takes some thinking.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

You answered 47 out of 60 correctly — 78.33 %

Me is a gud stewdent.

[iminlakerland]

i answered 42 questions correctly...that test was harder then i expected...i got a 70%

[boutons_]

This is ridiculous, the ISI bitching about prestigious universities not teaching civics, American history, European history, local/state/federal govt?

These are highschool subjects, NOT university courses. Reminds of a guy years ago on Johnny Carson, the Contrary Grammarian or somthing like that, saying there was a huge crisis that college freshman didn't have 8th grade level in 3Rs. Then after huge effort, people were congratulating themselves that they had finally gotten college freshman up to 8th grade level! http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif

American sheeple have gotten so fucking dumb and distracted by pop /celebrity culture, sports, consumerism, TV, and 24x7 advertizing. And it's getting worse, has been for decades. American kids always score way lower than kids in Europe and Asia.

This is exactly where the corps, the political class, the top 2% oligarchy/kleptocracy want the sheeple to be, ignorant, manipulable, gullible, un-thinking, sellable, paying $Bs for and dying in bullshit wars to enrich the corps that pay almost no taxes and rake in $Bs in bullshit subsidies.

"Good night and good luck." http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

For the ISI's next quiz, you must correctly answer this question.

How many grains of sand are in boutons_' vagina?

[ploto]

50/60- and considering how long it has been since I took high school American history, that is pretty good. I mostly missed the economics questions and economics was not even offered as a subject when I was in high school.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

51/60. Sorry to 1-up you ploto. The economics questions were my downfall as well.

[degenerate_gambler]

45 out of 60 = 75%

it's the economy stupid..

[tlongII]

60/60

[101A]

56/60

It may have been 18 years ago, but some of the Poli/Sci stuff stuck.

[MannyIsGod]

53/60

I can't believe I got the last one wrong.

[ashbeeigh]

You all are busting a curve. I got a 50 when I took it and thought it was good. I did pretty well on the philosophy stuff and really shitty on the the economics part. If I had stuck with history o\in college I probably would have done well.

I see your point boutons, but I think their point is, as Americans, we would all know this. but, why should they decide what we should know?

[DarkReign]

Holy hell, I got my ass kicked.

[ShoogarBear]

54/60

And for once I have to agree with boutons. Blaming high-profile universities is a bogus strawman to generate headlines. This is entirely a problem of secondary school education.

That was kind of fun though. For once, a good test that actually probably measured what it was supposed to.

[CuckingFunt]

I got 48/60.

Considering the quiz covered the subjects that I've put the least effort into retaining, I'm actually quite happy with that result.

[E20]

I took one look at the quiz and it was too long to take. Besides...........I don't even care about those subjects.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I took one look at the quiz and it was too long to take. Besides...........I don't even care about those subjects.

And with one fell swoop, boutons_ is vindicated.

[E20]

And with one fell swoop, boutons_ is vindicated.
Yeah, I took it seriously when I had to take them back when I was younger, but I'm a science major so why waste my time and fill my head with knowledge that is useless to me at this time. Which leads me to say why are they trying to force people to learn about history/culture in college when it was HS's job to do it? They shouldn't have to take a history course at all if they don't want to.

[boutons_]

JB, pull your head out your fat-slob ass and GFY.

[ShoogarBear]

Yeah, I took it seriously when I had to take them back when I was younger, but I'm a science major so why waste my time and fill my head with knowledge that is useless to me at this time. Which leads me to say why are they trying to force people to learn about history/culture in college when it was HS's job to do it? They shouldn't have to take a history course at all if they don't want to.If you plan to go into pure research or academic science, you probably can get by.

If you're planning on going into industry and don't understand some of the concepts of that quiz, you're in big trouble.

[ShoogarBear]

Holy hell, I got my ass kicked.You're in good company.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/09/fullj.getty-75557860jm032_detroit_lions.jpg

[FromWayDowntown]

You answered 55 out of 60 correctly — 91.67 %

As a product of a prestigious university, I'll side with boutons and Shoog concerning the non-correlation between teaching at prestigious universities and the ability to pass this test.

[E20]

If you plan to go into pure research or academic science, you probably can get by.

If you're planning on going into industry and don't understand some of the concepts of that quiz, you're in big trouble.
I don't know what that means, but my major is Neuroscience/Neurobiology and become a surgeon. Tell me if that fits into one of the two catogery's you mentioned.

[ShoogarBear]

I don't know what that means, but my major is Neuroscience/Neurobiology and become a surgeon. Tell me if that fits into one of the two catogery's you mentioned.That means you probably don't need to know it.

But you won't be much fun at cocktail parties.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

46/60

But the Lions reference through me off...

[leemajors]

If you plan to go into pure research or academic science, you probably can get by.

If you're planning on going into industry and don't understand some of the concepts of that quiz, you're in big trouble.
i don't think understanding concepts in the quiz and being able to recall specifics you may not have cause to remember daily are necessarily related. however, he is just out of high school so the recall should be easier.

[ShoogarBear]

46/60

But the Lions reference through me off...Oh, just a gratuitous cheap shot at a Lion fan.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Oh, just a gratuitous cheap shot at a Lion fan.


I could have returned the favor by doing this,

http://assets.giants.com/uploads/photo/38AD16BC0D5D4E8F88233AEB9C2DC7CE.jpg

but I decided to take the high road.

Carry on with how stupid we are as a society.

[tlongII]

At my age I don't just know history, I am history.

[ploto]

As a product of a prestigious university, I'll side with boutons and Shoog concerning the non-correlation between teaching at prestigious universities and the ability to pass this test.
Over half of the questions that I answered correctly were based upon information from the first half of American history in eighth grade.

The educational institution really has nothing to do with one's ability to recall factual details of something learned that long ago.

[FromWayDowntown]

Over half of the questions that I answered correctly were based upon information from the first half of American history in eighth grade.

The educational institution really has nothing to do with one's ability to recall factual details of something learned that long ago.

Sorry -- should have included you in my list of fellow travelers on this issue, I guess.

[DarkReign]

The educational institution really has nothing to do with one's ability to recall factual details of something learned that long ago.

Something I have never been able to do effectively. I have a partial library at home, mostly fiction and science anthologies, that I have read probably 70-80% in their entirety, cover to cover.

When I look to find another book to read, I cant recall nearly all of them. Plot lines, character names, theories, references, nothing. It kills the book because I know I have read it, but cant remember a damn thing about it.

WTF is with that? I have a terrible memory and it always gets me in trouble, always has.