American Civics Test

[ERD50]

Dang you guys are smart!

Did anyone else think some of the questions were worded like a push poll?

A couple of the 'free market' ones struck me that way, though I agreed with them, but it should be presented more neutrally. Or did you mean others?

29/33. One I really should have got, too embarrassed to mention which one.

I can understand others missing the Lincoln-Douglass debate one, being from IL I've got a bit more exposure, so I knew the answer was a bit different from what many people might assume. I'd bet most people's ideas about the "Emancipation Proclamation" are off-kilter as well.

But then I screwed up the 'of/by/for the people' - knew a few it wasn't, but I needed a 50-50 life-line. Doh! I might have to turn in my IL plates!

And I tend to lump all those amendments together, I really don't recall which rights are which amendment. FWIW, I don't think that captures the 'spirit' of civic knowledge, that's moving towards trivia. One should score well on the concepts of what our rights are, the number/order is less important IMO. I guess you could say that about a lot of the questions, but if you know the answer, it's no big deal

What I find more fascinating is that that some of those had to be amendments!

I hemmed and hawed over the 'public good' question - I sorta don't agree with their answer, but it's a bit squishy.

But average scores of 49% are a little frightening, as are lower scores by those in office. But who knows, I could go on, claim to be President, or a Supreme Court judge, and then try to do poorly. Can't really trust a self-selected group like that.

Also, did anyone else notice they Capitalized "Supreme Court" and "United Nations", but "president" was not? That seemed odd to me.


-ERD50

 

[scrabbler1]

I got 30 of 33 correct. The only ones I missed were the ones about the Puritans, the one about Socrates, and the one weird one about free markets. Several others were tough and I took an educated guess and got them right.

Pretty scary at how low some of the others were correctly answered, either by citizens or elected officials. Same for overall percentages of correct answers. I agree with push-poll bias in some of the questions.

 

[SecondCor521]

33/33 but I was not sure of my answers on maybe 3 or 4.

2Cor521

 

[M Paquette]

A perfect score is remarkable.

I think it means that we both spent way too much time "feeding the Elephant's Child".

 

[Nords]

Showoffs.
I think anyone getting in the upper 20's should be commended. Most of us do not have much exposure to this information once we get beyond our school years. A perfect score is remarkable.
29 here.

The link has been going around in emails for awhile. We had already taken the test. I got 30 of 33. DW has taught HS American Government in the recent past. She got 31 of 33 and said the two questions she missed were wrong. She found good (at least it looked good to me) documentation to support her arguements. Whenever I get anything like this in an email I question the accuracy of the editorializing and the motives of whomever started the email. The test seemed pretty easy to me (40+ years since I sat in a Civics class). I have a hard time believing that college professors did so poorly on the test. What I can believe is that a whole bunch of people have flunked out of college and do not like college professors.

29/33, but I demand a recount.

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

Yeah, but what if the government spends the money on foreign aid? Different people paying the taxes and different people receiving the revenue doesn't imply that tax per person equals spending per person...

 

[MichaelB]

Dang you guys are smart!

Did anyone else think some of the questions were worded like a push poll?

Yes.

The results make it seem some forum members paid attention during high school. I am not part of that group. I do like the way REW uses his own score to set the bar for good vs excellent.

As for Alan, my experience with expats is, as a group, they have far better knowledge of US civics than a comparable group of US born, raised and schooled. This is very good fortune for the US.

 

[REWahoo]

I do like the way REW uses his own score to set the bar for good vs excellent.

The opportunity to make myself look good doesn't come along all that often so I jumped all over this one.

 

[HFWR]

Though it might be a stretch to expect citizens to remember the particulars of all the amendments, or even the Bill of Rights, the firtst and second amendments in particular, and maybe the fifth and tenth as well, get enough coverage in the popular press to warrant some public awareness.

What amuses me is when people rant about following "The Constitution" and "The Bill of Rights", as if they were seperate documents...

 

[scrabbler1]

One thing I liked about the quiz is how it differentiated between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Too many people, including politicians, seem to confuse the two (often intentionally, it seems) when trying to support their positions.

 

[MichaelB]

It is not at all a surprise that forum members score substantially higher than average or even college educators.

Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.

 

[Walt34]

29/33. Oh well, we all have an off day.

I haven't take a philosophy class since 1970 so I missed the one on Socrates, et al.

 

[jIMOh]

Question: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas would concur that:
Your Answer: all moral and political truth is relative to one’s time and place
Correct Answer: certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason
Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:
Your Answer: property rights and contracts are best enforced by the market system
Correct Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?
Your Answer: U.S. Constitution
Correct Answer: Gettysburg Address
Question: The Puritans:
Your Answer: were Catholic missionaries escaping religious persecution
Correct Answer: stressed the sinfulness of all humanity
Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

28 of 33
I need to read all the answers before picking the right one...

 

[jIMOh]

The link has been going around in emails for awhile. We had already taken the test. I got 30 of 33. DW has taught HS American Government in the recent past. She got 31 of 33 and said the two questions she missed were wrong. She found good (at least it looked good to me) documentation to support her arguements. Whenever I get anything like this in an email I question the accuracy of the editorializing and the motives of whomever started the email. The test seemed pretty easy to me (40+ years since I sat in a Civics class). I have a hard time believing that college professors did so poorly on the test. What I can believe is that a whole bunch of people have flunked out of college and do not like college professors.

How many of those college professors attended high school in the USA?

 

[scrabbler1]

"Question: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas would concur that:
Your Answer: all moral and political truth is relative to one’s time and place
Correct Answer: certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason
Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:
Your Answer: property rights and contracts are best enforced by the market system
Correct Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?
Your Answer: U.S. Constitution
Correct Answer: Gettysburg Address
Question: The Puritans:
Your Answer: were Catholic missionaries escaping religious persecution
Correct Answer: stressed the sinfulness of all humanity
Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average"

jIMOh, the three questions I got wrong were among the 5 you got wrong. And I answered the same wrong answers you did. I had no chance on the first two, but on the Puritans one I was mentally flipping a coin between what I chose and the right answer. The Gettysburg one was tough, it sounded more like it was from a speech than from a document.

 

[RockyMtn]

27/33....with a few outright guesses.

 

[Texas Proud]

I got 31 of 33...

Missed Puritans and Socrates.... did guess on a few... IOW, if this was not a multiple choice question I would have done worse...

 

[Texas Proud]

29/33, but I demand a recount.

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

Yeah, but what if the government spends the money on foreign aid? Different people paying the taxes and different people receiving the revenue doesn't imply that tax per person equals spending per person...

It took me a bit on this one...

Gvmt debt is not zero since we do not know if there was already debt...

It does not matter where gvmt spends it... nor who pays etc... the words that made it correct was 'on average'...

 

[FIREd]

You answered 26 out of 33 correctly — 78.79 %

 

[kcowan]

25/33 - not bad for a Canuck Engineer who never took PoliSci! Also my attention span is not good enough for a 33 question test.

 

[MBAustin]

30 / 33

I don't remember ever hearing about Roosevelt threatening to appoint additional Supreme Court justices...the other two were

I'm going to send the link to DH and the kids...

 

[scrabbler1]

30 / 33

I don't remember ever hearing about Roosevelt threatening to appoint additional Supreme Court justices...the other two were

I'm going to send the link to DH and the kids...

This was the essence of the "Court Packing" scheme FDR tried to do in the 1930s so the SCOTUS would stop striking down his New Deal legislation.

 

[REattempt]

26/33. 78%

15 yo freshman offspring: 12/36 33%

 

[devans0]

32/33

I missed the public works / public good question.

I disagree with the post about the bill of rights numbers not being important. I have saved my um.. behind by pleading the fourth on a few occasions usually with those lawyer-trap questions that either choice or answer will get you found guilty by DW.

 

[Gumby]

I think it means that we both spent way too much time "feeding the Elephant's Child".

Just so.

 

[Nords]

The results make it seem some forum members paid attention during high school.
As for Alan, my experience with expats is, as a group, they have far better knowledge of US civics than a comparable group of US born, raised and schooled. This is very good fortune for the US.

I paid attention in my high-school civics class and learned everything there is to know about Pennsylvania politics.

But I've lived in Hawaii for longer than I've lived in PA, and I can't even sing the Hawaii state song...

Of course my born-and-raised-in-Hawaii daughter can't name a single Pennsylvania governor, so I guess we're even.