RE: Civics Class (Full Version)

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OneMoreWaste -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 5:50:04 AM)

30 out of 33, not bad for not having finished my first can of soda yet. Missed the ones on the ancient Greeks, the Puritans, and the Gettysburg Address. I can live with that.
And the three branches of government are actually Money, Television, and Bullshit (from PJ O'Rourke)




LadyEllen -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 5:56:34 AM)

yeah - so you say, you BNP enabler you!

E
(closet Tory)




MadAxeman -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 6:12:00 AM)

Aaargh.
How do I link to that page? My display has gone to maximum and the line isn't at the top anymore. Could any kind person out there provide the link?




rulemylife -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 6:33:31 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster

Anyway, here's some scary stuff:



Want to know some really scary stuff?

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute is a conservative ideological organization, backed by the Heritage Foundation, that published this quiz in a clever effort to "prove" the reason Obama was elected was an uneducated populace who didn't understand basic government, much less the issues.

Several posters on this thread have asked what some of the questions had to do with civics.  Look carefully at those questions.

Unlike the basic questions of government, they are questions that clearly direct the quiz taker to the answer in the way the questioner wants by providing only one sensible choice, even if that answer is more a philosophical viewpoint than an actual fact.

“People may be listening to television experts talk about economic bailouts and the platforms of
political candidates, but they apparently have little idea what our basic economic and political
institutions are,” observes Dr. Richard Brake, ISI’s Director of University Stewardship. “Our
study raises significant questions about whether citizens who voted in this year’s landmark
presidential election really understand how our system of representative democracy works.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/
PRESS RELEASE: New Study Finds Americans Earn a Failing Grade When Tested on American History and Economics




LadyEllen -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 6:42:54 AM)

RML - without opening it up again, I did wonder at question 31 - the "correct answer" was fairly obvious, but it occurred to me that it wouldnt be the only answer available to the question?

E




SoulPiercer -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 6:43:04 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster

I missed #27. What the hell is a "price system"? Anyway, here's some scary stuff:

Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public

"The ISI civic Literacy survey was not designed to test the civic knowledge of elected officials, but it did discover evidence of an interesting pattern that may merit further exploration."


"In each of the following areas, for example, officeholders do more poorly than non-officeholders:

•Seventy-nine percent of those who have been elected to government office do not know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the U.S.
•Thirty percent do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
•Twenty-seven percent cannot name even one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
•Forty-three percent do not know what the Electoral College does. One in five thinks it either “trains those aspiring for higher political office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
•Fifty-four percent do not know the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Thirty-nine percent think that power belongs to the president, and 10% think it belongs to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
•Only 32% can properly define the free enterprise system, and only 41% can identify business profit as “revenue minus expenses.”"


This really isn't all that surprising.

Our "best and brightest" don't usually go into politics.

We saw a prime example of one of those elected officials in the most recent election.




rulemylife -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 6:52:09 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

RML - without opening it up again, I did wonder at question 31 - the "correct answer" was fairly obvious, but it occurred to me that it wouldnt be the only answer available to the question?

E


I found six or seven of the questions to be like that. 




Lorr47 -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 7:04:41 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MadAxeman

Aaargh.
How do I link to that page? My display has gone to maximum and the line isn't at the top anymore. Could any kind person out there provide the link?


http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx






Hippiekinkster -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 7:29:52 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster

Anyway, here's some scary stuff:



Want to know some really scary stuff?

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute is a conservative ideological organization, backed by the Heritage Foundation, that published this quiz in a clever effort to "prove" the reason Obama was elected was an uneducated populace who didn't understand basic government, much less the issues.

Several posters on this thread have asked what some of the questions had to do with civics.  Look carefully at those questions.

Unlike the basic questions of government, they are questions that clearly direct the quiz taker to the answer in the way the questioner wants by providing only one sensible choice, even if that answer is more a philosophical viewpoint than an actual fact.

“People may be listening to television experts talk about economic bailouts and the platforms of
political candidates, but they apparently have little idea what our basic economic and political
institutions are,” observes Dr. Richard Brake, ISI’s Director of University Stewardship. “Our
study raises significant questions about whether citizens who voted in this year’s landmark
presidential election really understand how our system of representative democracy works.”

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx
Oh, there's absolutely no question that this "quiz" has a distinct right-wing bias. A rightie posted the link on B.com, and it was obvious to we Progressives that it was a blatant attempt to score "points", as it were.




Arpig -> RE: Civics Class (12/7/2008 8:22:52 AM)

30 out of 33...and I am one of those foreign types




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