Top-flight colleges fail civics, study says : Cal and Stanford Students Test Poorly

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 09/27/2006 | Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer

[SirLinksalot]

Seniors at UC Berkeley, the nation's premier public university, got an F in their basic knowledge of American history, government and politics in a new national survey, and students at Stanford University didn't do much better, getting a D.

Out of 50 schools surveyed, Cal ranked 49th and Stanford 31st in how well they are increasing student knowledge about American history and civics between the freshman and senior years. And they're not alone among major universities in being fitted for a civics dunce cap. Other poor performers in the study were Yale, Duke, Brown and Cornell universities. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was the tail-ender behind Cal, ranking 50th. The No. 1 ranking went to unpretentious Rhodes College in Memphis. Small but competitive regional private colleges rounded up the top 5 including Calvin College, Grove City College and University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study was conducted by the University of Connecticut's department of public policy and the nonprofit education organization Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Researchers sampled 14,000 students at 50 schools, large and small.

The aim was to determine how well the colleges are teaching their students the basics of government, politics and history -- the bedrocks of good citizenship.

Beyond the rankings, the study found that across the board -- from elite universities to less-selective colleges -- the typical senior did poorly on the civics literacy exam, scoring below 70 percent. This would be a D or F on a basic test using a conventional grading scale.

That shows, the researchers said, that the students don't have -- and the universities generally aren't teaching -- the basic understanding of America's history and founding principles that they need to be good citizens.

It is a crisis, the report warns.

[SirLinksalot]

This study was from late last year but I believe is still relevant today since the school year has started. It will be interesting to see if school administrators are aware of this study and make changes to their core curriculum accordingly. I hear from a trusted source that another similar study is being made even as I write this to see if anything was done after the results were published.

The article goes on to list the top 10 schools and the bottom ranked schools ...

The University of Connecticut's survey ranked 50 colleges on how well they increase student knowledge about American history, government and politics between the freshman and senior years.

Rankings from best to worst:

1. Rhodes College

2. Colorado State University

3. Calvin College

4. Grove City College

5. University of Colorado, Boulder

6. Spring Arbor University

7. University of New Mexico

8. University of Mobile

9. Florida Memorial University

10. Central Connecticut State University

...

31. Stanford University

...
40. University of Florida

41. Wofford College

42. University of Virginia

43. Georgetown University

44. Yale University

45. State University of West Georgia

46. Duke University

47. Brown University

48. Cornell University

49. UC Berkeley

50. Johns Hopkins University

The report is available at

www.americancivicliteracy.org.

Source: University of Connecticut

[BerniesFriend]

tests showed that the students had only one answer on all their civic questions..”Bush’s fault!”..

[Bruinator]

There is no need to even explain these results. They are self evident.

[Kieri]

Spring Arbor is #6? Woot!

My husband teaches as an adjunct professor for SAU. He’s - believe it or not - a conservative Christian social worker. The college has been expanding and growing at a very fast rate. I’m glad to see they’re doing it the right way!

[SirLinksalot]

Spring Arbor is #6? Woot!

Surprises never cease. I am embarassed to say I've never heard of the school much less know where it's located. Maybe you'd like to tell us where it is.

[G8 Diplomat]

Seniors at UC Berkeley, the nation's premier public university, got an F in their basic knowledge of American history, government and politics

HAHAHAA I can't help but laugh my ass off at the school I hate most. I am not surprised UC Barfley failed government and politics--they're indoctrinated with nothing but liberal lies and "Bush's fault" all day long. See that's proof liberalism is a fake, biased ideology.

I notice that several high-powered schools like Yale, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins were on that list. Liberals don't make you smarter.

[SirLinksalot]

Forget my question. I found out myself. Here’s what Wikipedia says about the school :

“Spring Arbor University, located in Spring Arbor, Michigan, United States is an evangelical Protestant university affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, with professional and graduate studies for about 3,700 students. As of the 2007-08 school year, there were 1,913 undergraduates, 1,091 graduate and 697 off-campus degree completion students. The university employs approximately 100 full-time faculty. Spring Arbor University has extension sites in Alpena, Battle Creek, Bay City, Flint, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Metro-Detroit, Petoskey, Traverse City, Troy, and Metro-Toledo, Ohio.

The university is currently under the presidency of Gayle Beebe, a Quaker. Beebe has previously served in the administration of several Christian institutions. The university offers over 40 program majors and is recognized for its strong Liberal Arts curriculum and Christian atmosphere. Most students are from various Protestant denominations, over 42 denominations are represented on the campus. Around 86% of students are from Michigan, 13% are from 22 other states and 1% are international.”

It’s really ironic with all the anti-religious bias going on in our schools, that the schools that are teaching students HOW TO BE A GOOD AMERICAN by actually teaching them civics are CHRISTIAN COLLEGES. Notice how many Christian Colleges are ranked at the top.

[Kieri]

Spring Arbor University
Spring Arbor, MI

SAU is a Free Methodist college. Remember the story of Julie Nemechec, the alleged Baptist minister who taught there who started wearing skirts and pearls and demanded to be accepted as a woman? The University refused to let him teach and took a pounding for it. They settled, but Nemechec is no longer in front of a classroom, which was the most important thing.

[Kieri]

Heh, sorry, I should’ve gone down one more post. ;-)

[the OlLine Rebel]

This is a shock?

These universities in particular revel in casting aspersions on American history, much less the “culture” in engendered that they still despise.

[FreedomProtector]

Small but competitive regional private colleges rounded up the top 5 including Calvin College, Grove City College ...

Grove City College! Go Wolverines!!!

[MrB]

Now, the question is -

were they tested on the PC version of American Gov’t, History, and Politics,

or on the historical truth?

[Mrs.Z]

***tests showed that the students had only one answer on all their civic questions..”Bush’s fault!”..***

Whoa!? You mean that’s not a correct answer?? ;^)

[SirLinksalot]

were they tested on the PC version of American Gov’t, History, and Politics,

or on the historical truth?

If they designed a test that tested the former on your list, I'm sure the ones ranked below would rank at the very top ( and vice versa ) !

[MrB]

Have you read the “Politically Incorrect Guide to American History”?

It’s a case of “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”

[green iguana]

Best part of the article (on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s site, not the SFC site) was that the bottom 16 schools actually exhibited negative learning - the Seniors knew less about civics than the Freshmen! That would be these schools:

35 University of Michigan -0.1
36 Ithaca College -0.2
37 University of Chicago -0.3
38 Massachusetts Institute of Technology -0.4
39 Williams College -0.7
40 University of Florida -0.8
41 Wofford College -0.9
42 University of Virginia -1.1
43 Georgetown University -1.2
44 Yale University -1.5
45 State University of West Georgia -2.0
46 Duke University -2.3
47 Brown University -2.7
48 Cornell University -3.3
49 University of California, Berkeley -5.6
50 Johns Hopkins University -7.3

[LWalk18]

Let's put some of these rankings in perspective:

At Stanford, freshmen scored an average of 62.2 percent, and seniors scored an average of 63.1 percent. The difference between the freshmen and seniors was minimal, which the study's authors say shows they are not being taught the content during college. In comparison, at Rhodes College, the freshman average was 50.6 percent and the senior average 62.2 percent. Even though the Rhodes seniors scored lower than Stanford's, the researchers concluded Rhodes was doing a better job because of the percentage of improvement shown.

The top ranked school still has a 62.2, or D- average on this test. If you look at some of the questions you would shock at how easy they are, but I blame the public schools as well as colleges and universities.

[SirLinksalot]

So, it seems that those going to Stanford already KNEW more than Rhodes but after 4 years, Rhodes Seniors caught up with Stanford...

What can we learn here ?

A not so knowledgable kid who enters Rhodes ends up just as good as a Stanford Freshman, while a Stanford adds little to nothing to a freshman’s knowledge... at least that’s how it’s looking like to me.

[SirLinksalot]

The top ranked school still has a 62.2, or D- average on this test

Well, this is even worse than I thought. Even the best schools aren't really teaching enough civics to their students, and the supposedly top universities are causing kids to UNLEARN what they've already known !

It's like sending kids to different martial arts schools expecting most of them to end up like Bruce Lee only to find out 4 years later that the best kid in the best school only end up to be like one the opponents Bruce Lee can beat without breaking a sweat ( bad analogy but you get my drift ).

[ravingnutter]

Heck...who needs a study to figure that out. The lack of education in basic civics I have witnessed here on FR makes my hair turn gray as I have to keep repeating myself that there is a difference between Congressional authorization and appropriation. All I get back is "But Congressman so-and-so says blah, blah, blah" when it is clear that Congressman so-and-so needs to reread the Constitution. I apparently learned more from Schoolhouse Rock than they have in their many years of public service.

Oh crap...now I can't get the Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just a Bill" out of my head...

[LWalk18]

A not so knowledgable kid who enters Rhodes ends up just as good as a Stanford Freshman, while a Stanford adds little to nothing to a freshman’s knowledge... at least that’s how it’s looking like to me.

Perhaps, but you also have to look at what are the top majors at some of these schools. Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, etc. tend to have a large number of science and engineering majors who take few or no history courses. Many of these top colleges have students who test out the survey American History course by taking the AP American History test while still in high school. Many college seniors, especially those who are not arts or humanities majors, have not studied American History since the 11th grade.

[ClaireSolt]

Half of Stanford is engineering. A faculty adviser to one of their dorms related that they showed no interest in having a library, because, they said, WE have our book.

[NucSubs]

Where is a copy of the test? In want to take it.

[SirLinksalot]

Half of Stanford is engineering. A faculty adviser to one of their dorms related that they showed no interest in having a library, because, they said, WE have our book.

I wonder if they tested students by MAJORS. It would be inaccurate of course to compare a Rhodes College history or political science major with a Stanford Electrical Engineering major's results in an American History or civics test. The Stanford EE major will most likely lose.

However, being a CITIZEN of this country, I would say that what you majored in college is NO EXCUSE for being ignorant about your country.

[LWalk18]

A sample quiz (5 questions) is on the website- www.americancivilliteracy.org. You can see how easy the questions are.

[SirLinksalot]

You can find a copy of the quiz here

[SirLinksalot]

I hasten to add that it is NOT the complete test. As the site mentions :

“These questions were part of the 2005 American Civic Literacy Program survey.”

[SirLinksalot]

For those who are lazy to to go to the site, here is are sample questions from the test :

1) Which of the following are the unalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?
A. life, liberty, and property.
B. honor, liberty, and peace.
C. liberty, health, and community.
D. life, respect, and equal protection.
E. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

2) During which period was the American Constitution amended to guarantee women the right to vote?
A. 1850 – 1875
B. 1876 – 1900
C. 1901 – 1925
D. 1926 – 1950
E. 1951 – 1975

3) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
A. argued for the abolition of slavery.
B. advocated black separatism.
C. morally defended affirmative action.
D. expressed his hopes for racial justice and brotherhood.
E. proposed that several of America’s founding ideas were discriminatory.

4) Which of the following was an alliance to resist Soviet expansion?
A. United Nations.
B. League of Nations.
C. North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
D. Warsaw Pact.
E. Asian Tigers.

5) Which of the following is the best measure of production or output of an economy?
A. Gross Domestic Product.
B. Consumer Price Index.
C. Unemployment Rate.
D. Prime Rate.
E. Exchange Rate.

If you fail to answer at least 3 of the above, you’ve really been educated at one of the bottom 10 :)

[Designer]

"HAHAHAA I can't help but laugh my ass off at the school I hate most. I am not surprised UC Barfley failed government and politics--they're indoctrinated with nothing but liberal lies and "Bush's fault" all day long. See that's proof liberalism is a fake, biased ideology."

Thank God those people will not be in a leadership role someday.

(Oh, they will be in leadership roles someday?)

Never mind.

[NucSubs]

Yeah...took that...but as you say, it was only a quiz.

[scott says]

I got 5 out of 5 and didn’t even have to read all the questions or answers closely, just as probably everyone on this site will do as well.
It is truly scary that “top” college students at Yale,Stanford and UCB fail this ridiculously easy test, as a freshman is HS 25 years ago I would have got 100%.

[SirLinksalot]

Thank God those people will not be in a leadership role someday.

They ARE and they will. Among the list of UC Berkley alumni who are/were influential in a leadership role are :

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, B.A. 1950 - President of Pakistan (1971-1973), Prime Minister of Pakistan (1973-1977)

Earl Warren, B.A. 1912, J.D. 1914 - Attorney General of California, 1939-1943; Governor of California, 1943-1953; 14th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1953-1969

Pete Wilson, J.D. 1962 - U.S. Senator, Governor of California

Jennifer Granholm, B.A. 1984 - Governor of Michigan (2003-present), first female to hold this position in the state of Michigan

Robert McNamara, B.A. 1937 - President of World Bank (1968-1981), United States Secretary of Defense (1961-1968), Chair of Ford Motor Company

Norman Mineta, B.S. 1953 - Congressman, United States Secretary of Transportation (2001-present), United States Secretary of Commerce (2000-2001)

Dean Rusk (studied law, Class of 1940) - United States Secretary of State (1961-1969)

Ann Veneman, M.P.P. 1971 - United States Secretary of Agriculture (2001-2005)

Nicole Parra, B.A. 1992 - California state Assemblywoman (2002-present)

Ira Ruskin, B.A. 1968 - Democratic California State Assemblyman (21 Assembly District) (2004-present)

Linda Sanchez, B.A. 1991 - Congresswoman (2002-present)

Jerry Brown, B.A. 1961 - Mayor of Oakland (listed under Governors section)

Edwin Meese III, J.D. 1958 - United States Attorney General (1985-1988)

Theodore Olson, J.D. 1965 - United States Solicitor General (2001-2004)

Betty Friedan (attended psychology graduate program) - feminist activist, author of The Feminine Mystique (1963)

[SirLinksalot]

Here is how the typical college student would answer the question based on the core curriculum provided today :

1) Which of the following are the unalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?

C. liberty, health, and community.

2) During which period was the American Constitution amended to guarantee women the right to vote?

D. 1926 – 1950

3) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

C. morally defended affirmative action.

or

E. proposed that several of America’s founding ideas were discriminatory.
(CLOSE CALL)

4) Which of the following was an alliance to resist Soviet expansion?

A. United Nations.

5) Which of the following is the best measure of production or output of an economy?

C. Unemployment Rate.

[scott says]

Good Lord.....
It is so blatantly clear that most colleges and university's are nothing more than Liberal indoctrination centers, students parroting back the idiocy and ignorance of the clueless liberal professors—

[pas]

They only studied 50 schools. Just an FYI.

[Publius6961]

Than Kew!

[Enchante]

This is pitiful, but US civics and history need to be taught well in high school. Not everyone goes to college, not even a majority, so it is much more important to try to provide proper civic education in high school where there is a chance to reach close to 100% of citizens. Not that most will learn much, because the quality of our public education is so poor, but high school is the place where this problem needs to be addressed first.

[Publius6961]

The answer for #3 are all incorrect. Wishy-washy and PC attempt.

The best summary would be "People will be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin"

Hasn't happened because, for many, the content of their character has devolved into the negative numbers.

Just saying.

[Designer]

Very impressive, Sir! Thank you for the post!

Yes, reading those names gave me the willies.

Earl Warren and Robert McNamara, in particular.

Leftists all.

[GATOR NAVY]

You answered 5 out of 5 correctly — 100.00 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 88.5%

Man, I broke a sweat taking that test...NOT! If kids entering college can't answer those questions, we're in trouble.

[SirLinksalot]

The National Review reports here that there will be a new study to be released on September 18, 2007 ( next week ) that will determine if there are any improvements from last year's test.

Here's what they said :

"On September 18 the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) will release its second study on civic literacy in higher education. The study follows ISI’s landmark report, The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education’s Failure to Teach America’s History and Institutions, which was released in September 2006.

This year’s study, as last year’s, was based on the results of a multiple-choice test given to some 14,000 randomly chosen freshmen and seniors on 50 college and university campuses. The students were asked 60 multiple-choice questions about America’s history, government, free-market economics, and foreign relations. In the 2006 report, the average score for seniors was 53.2 percent correct. The average score for freshmen was 51.7 percent correct. For the first time, statistical evidence exists that shows that students gain very little knowledge while in college about America’s history and founding principles.

ISI ranked the 50 colleges in the study by the value they added to students’ knowledge of the subjects mentioned above. Rhodes College in Tennessee was ranked number one, followed by Colorado State University, Calvin College, Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Click on the above link for the rest...

[GATOR NAVY]

Thanks for the link.

[G8 Diplomat]

[N. Theknow]

Socialism has no use for civics.

What do you have? It's mine.

What do you want? You can't have it.

Health care is free. And we will decide when you need it.