The Goldwater Institute has a column today by Thomas C. Patterson on how American colleges and universities are failing to teach civic literacy. College freshamn and seniors at 50 colleges and universities were given a 60 question test of civic literacy.
After four years the average score went up from 50.4% to 54.2%. The average score students at eight collges declined! I wonder if the parents can get their money back? Or atleast a partial refund.
I took the test and got 86%. I missed eight questions. I went back and realized there were two questions I hadn't read carefully enough.
Thomas C. Patterson concludes with: "Our only option is to insist that our colleges produce civic literates. Time isn't on our side. We must act now if we hope to pass on to future generations the wisdom and decency of what it means to be an American."
I agree that our country would be better served by having more people with an improved civic education. I'm afraid most colleges will not improve.
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4 comments:
Great quiz. I was not very confident while taking it, but ended up with an 81.67%. I need to study up on my economics, as those were most of the ones I missed.
I enjoy teaching history to my son more than anything. Math is my least favorite. I already know that when the time comes for subjects like algebra, I'll have to find some way for him to learn it that doesn't involve me.
I only got 80%, though I don't feel too embarrassed. I'm a Canadian, never studied US history at a post-secondary level, and I still beat the average score.
I got 86.67% There were a few questions I had trouble deciding between 2 answers and guessed the wrong one. Most of those had to do with economics, a subject I never formally studied. I'm planning to rectify that in our family's homeschool!
I scored an 87. When I read through that report the amazing part is that seniors at the elite schools scored lower than the freshmen. Four years of expensive school made them dumber when it came to Civics.
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