Just How Knowledgeable Are You?
Take This Test to Determine If You Are a Member of the Informed Electorate.
Only 29% of Americans who took the test achieved a passing grade. This 33 question test examines the most basic of knowledge about our nation. Interestingly, the ISI report finds that elected officials score lower than the general public. That's a real confidence inhibitor, particularly as our nation faces our present economic challenges. There are a number of other revelations that are a bit shocking, like the fact that a college degree does not confer a significant increase in knowledge about America's founding principles.
The test is available on-line and a complete report on the findings is available here.
Can the results of this test provide an inkling of what is lacking in our educational institutions? Do our citizens have sufficient knowledge about basic financial and economic matters? Can the results provide a possible explanation for the economic difficulties that our nation is now facing?
Greed, attempts at social engineering without realizing the longer term consequences, political ambitiousness without concern for the public welfare and flat out ignorance about fiscal responsibility have led to the present crisis. One has to wonder if political decision makers possess the knowledge, intellectual capacity and political will to deal with our present economic issues. Do they actually understand what is necessary to insure long term economic stability? Rhetoric about trying something and if that doesn't work, we'll try something else can only make informed Americans nervous about the possible results.
The fact that Ben Bernake, the Federal Reserve Board Chairman and academic who has studied our government's flawed attempts at dealing with the Great Depression and subsequently making it worse make this writer wonder if 50 years from now there won't be another analysis of this period in time which comes to the conclusion that government action made it worse. I recall taking a management elective in college a number of years ago which stated that one course of action is always to do nothing. Perhaps that is a viable alternative now. One has to wonder if things get worse will it be because we did something that was not fully analyzed and evaluated.
Anyway, this is only a simple test and perhaps I am attempting to draw too many conclusions about what it really means, however this intellectual deficit should cause some concern.
Published by Clark Richards
Clark Richards is a retired soldier, business owner and teacher that has traveled extensively throughout Europe, South America, Asia and Australia. View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentI scored the same as Snidely--got all the government questions correct, but missed a few of the economic ones--oh, well- I went to art school! :)
Well done Snidely - the answer to 30 (according to the test makers) is what the government is currently pursuing - the test might have to be revised if that process fails. And of course there is an immutable physical law that states for every action there is a reaction and one has to assume that is true in economics too. Wonder if our lawmakers know the what the ultimate outcome will be - oops - many of them failed this test.
I just took the test and scored 84.85%. I got 28 of the 33 correct. I missed the following questions: #'s 7,15,29,30,33. According to the site the average score is 78.1% which really ain't too bad, all things considered. Good job Clark. I'd love to see how the naysayers, especially the "new and enthralled with Hope & Change crowd" would score - WITHOUT CHEATING!
that is pretty sad for sure,
but I am canadian and was a history major at university before I switched to psychology so I know about more aobut my own country thant the average canadian does.
I'm glad it was over..27:33 rough one ;-) Thanks for the link clark..leave to a teacher to make us try harder and improve..
P.S. - whoa - I just went to the page that gave more statistics about passing, failing - Our elected officials know even LESS than the general public. Ridiculous.
Wow, that was hard! I got a 78.79 - above the average of 78.1, but was surprised I didn't miss more! There were some questions not exactly "mainstream". I thought there'd be more like can you recognize this picture, how many judges on the Supreme Court, etc. Basically, I think American is being very dumbed down. Children in our most liberal states (not mine, thank goodness - a local teacher reminded me!) are spending oodles of classroom time on "social conditioning" like "diversity training". They do everything by computers and I know some kids who can't tell time by a clock with hands, and they are being told America is no more special than any other country.
I scored 29 of 33 and I taught US History for years and UGH! - missed the question on Lincoln's Gettysburg Address which I have read countless times. Shanika, I feel the same as you - the questions I got correct were sound and the missed were the needless ones. On the other hand, I recognize that I should have scored 100 and took note of my deficiencies.
Great test, Clark! 28 out of 33 is better than I thought I'd do. Frightening to see the averages of the different groups. After seeing that Howard Stern video that questioned prospective voters as well as the one the Zogby folks did on top of this test, I would be all for a TEST for all voters prior to being allowed to cast a vote. To think people vote who do not even have a clue what makes this country run!!
Hmm, is a 65% passing. Yikes! Great link. Of course some of these questions are just needless (Plato?), but others were sound.