Posted on 09/18/2007 2:17:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
"If you can read this, thank a teacher," says the bumper sticker on the car in front of me. But literacy is more than the ability to read a bumper sticker. It also includes the accumulation of basic knowledge combined with a way of thinking that allows an individual to lead a life that is personally productive and contributes to America's health and welfare.
For the second year in a row, America's elite universities and colleges have failed to rise above a "D plus" on tests of basic knowledge about civics and American history, maintains a study commissioned by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's (ISI). In 2005, ISI contracted with the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP) to administer tests of basic historical and civic knowledge to 14,000 students at 50 top schools, including Yale, Harvard, Cornell, the University of Virginia, Brown and Duke. The survey found that students "were no better off than when they arrived in terms of acquiring the knowledge necessary for informed engagement in a democratic republic and global economy." Since an education at top colleges can cost as much as $40,000 a year, it would appear that those paying the bill are being cheated.
ISI's final report entitled "The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions," presented four pivotal findings:
1. The average college senior knows very little about America's history, government, international relations and market economy. Their average score on the civic literacy test was 53.2 percent. "No class of seniors scored higher than 69 percent, or D plus."
2. Prestige doesn't pay off. "An Ivy League education contributes nothing to a student's civic learning. Š There is no relationship between the cost of attending college and the mastery of America's history, politics, and economy."
3. Students don't learn what colleges don't teach. "Schools where students took or were required to take more courses related to America's history and institutions," says the ISI, "outperformed those schools where fewer courses were completed. The absence of required courses in American history, political science, philosophy and economics suggests a negative impact on students' civic literacy."
America's most prestigious colleges had the worst scores. Many of the schools that typically rank the highest in popularity scored among the lowest in advancing civic knowledge. Generally, the ISI study found, the higher the ranking by U.S. News and World Report in its annual survey of institutions of higher education, the lower the rank in civic learning. "Even when controlling for numerous variables that influence learning, seniors at schools with reasonably strong core curricula - for example, Rhodes, Calvin and Wheaton - had double the gain in civic learning compared with those seniors at schools without a coherent core curriculum - for example, Brown, Cornell and Stanford."
4. Greater civic learning goes hand-in-hand with more active citizenship. "Students who demonstrated greater learning of America's history and its institutions were more engaged in citizenship activities such as voting, volunteer community service and political campaigns." The study found that "86 percent of the students at the four highest-ranked colleges had exercised their right to vote at least once. At Colorado State, ranked second overall, 90 percent of seniors had voted at least once. Š Higher civic learning and greater civic involvement are closely associated."
Here are three of the test questions. Even partially informed people who believe American history is a better teacher than fascination and fixation on the latest news about Britney Spears and O.J. Simpson ought to be able to answer them correctly. The entire 60 multiple-choice questions can be found on ISI's Web site, www.isi.org.
1. Which battle brought the American Revolution to an end: (a) Saratoga, (b) Gettysburg, (c) the Alamo, (d) Yorktown, (e) New Orleans?
2. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) was significant because it: (a) ended the war in Korea, (b) Gave President Johnson the authority to expand the scope of the Vietnam War, (c) Was an attempt to take foreign policy power away from the president, (d) Allowed China to become a member of the United Nations, (e) Allowed for oil exploration in Southeast Asia.
3. 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?
Everyone should take the test. No cheating and no, I'm not going to give you the answers. If you're interested enough to read this column, you ought to be smart enough to know them. If not, then you paid too much college tuition, or didn't take college seriously enough to get a real education.
In 1777, John Adams wrote to his son about the importance of education. He said it was necessary to teach the next generation about America's founding principles in order to preserve the freedom and independence so many of his fellow countrymen sacrificed to achieve. Only when we know and embrace those principles can we pass on to a new generation that which we inherited from the past. The ISI study reveals severe cracks in that foundation; cracks that need immediate attention and repair.
The children of American aren't going to get this information in a public school. They're too busy being taught diversity and how to be a good muslim. If you love your children, if you love your grandchildren don't send them to government schools (aka government indoctrination centers).
It’s the fault of them damned hippies...
If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
The question about the Pilgrims is biased against them, and wrong, imo. There are a number of subjective questions. And many for which some answers are very wrong and two are close to being right.
And some of the questions are NOT about American history, they are about peripheral issues in other fields.
“The absence of required courses in American history, political science, philosophy and economics suggests a negative impact on students’ civic literacy.”
Political science is a crock and a pseudo-science anyhow. Yes, I am a poli sci minor, that was a major in the subject.
Are you referring to the Puritan question? Which answer did you think was correct?
Well I blew Marbury vs. Madison so 59/60. It’s tough to believe students at Harvard or Yale are blowing these questions. Perhaps it is a case of not applying any effort. I wonder how they are administering the exam?
Like most multiple choice questios, they give you all but one answer that is clearly wrong. In that case you go with the partially right. An example of this would be the question dealing with the Fed purchasing bonds.
The other one.
63 yo carpenter with a semester and a half at a JC 45 years ago.
I thought many of the questions were (purposely) misleading and I'm wondering what all the economic questions have to do with civics.
I can thank my mom no teacher taught me to read.
I got 56 out of 60 correct on that quiz and I’m Canadian.
"Thanks, Mom and Dad." I literally (and I'm not one of those people who abuse the word "literally") cannot remember a time when I could not read -- I was reading by age three. By five, I had a rep -- I remember the first day of kindergarten, when all the school was bedecked in new posters and bulletin board displays, and my classmates were tugging at my sleeve to ask me what they said.
I complied. I hope that makes up for the time later in the year when I infected them all with Chicken Pox.
Books were a constant in my childhood. I live in my childhood home, which I inheritd from my mom, There is a bookcase from floor to ceiling on one wall of he living room, one wall of the den, both walls of the hallway, and in each bedroom. We had books instead of wallpaper.
After Mom died, we donated 21 boxes of books to the local public library for their annual book sale fundraiser -- without emptying a bookcase. When I moved back, I had to get rid of some of Mom's books -- and getting rid of books was anathemna -- to make room for mine. I don't go to the library often, because I own a library.
One day, I will inherit what is probably the most complete collection of 19th century viniculture books in the Southeast. My great-great grandfather had the lunatic notion that he could start a vineyard in North Georgia if he just read enough books on the subject, The only vines that prospered were the scupperdongs. He was ahead of his time -- there are now two successful (in financial terms; the quality of the wine is middling at best) vineyards in North Georgia.
For the second year in a row, America's elite universities and colleges have failed to rise above a "D plus" on tests of basic knowledge about civics and American history, maintains a study commissioned by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's (ISI).
College students are politically apathetic. Always have been, always will be. They live in communities where they have no stake -- places they came to a couple of years ago and will leave a couple of years from now. They have no children in the local schools, do not own homes, and they're young folks with short-term vision.
Some small number find their identity, their sense of belonging, in political activism. Those are disproportionately radical, because youth is about passion. A 21-year-old does not want to take small steps to build an ideological base. He wants to change the world. Now.
Years ago, I was sitting on a beautiful moonlit hilltop in Tennessee with a bunch of college-age hippies whose chosen purpose was to shut down chip mills -- plants that grind wood down to pulp to make paper.
I can testify that paper pulp mills are nasty places. You can smell them for miles downwind, and what they're dumping in the river can't be good. But when I asked these hippies if they had even tried to talk to the locals, to reach out to the people whose kids were the victims of polluted water, they blinked at me as if I were speaking Swahili.
They had not checked with the EPA to see if he plants should be cited. They had not talked to the locals in any way, at all. Basically, they were trying to make all the jobs go away without even making an attempt to offer an alternative.
That's when I realized that these "activists" did not care as much abut making a change for the better as they did about feeling better about themselves. They wanted to feel like they mattered. Actually accomplishing anything was secondary.They wanted to handcuff themselves to a chain-link fence more than they wanted to fix the damned problem.
Back to college students: Most couldn't give a good damn. It's not a lacking in "these kids today." It's the nature of the beast. And it's a futile and pointless quest to try and change it. What the Internet has done is make it easier for the few who want to be "involved" -- through netroots fundraising, meetup groups, and so on -- to do so. I's not a matter of creating new resources, but more effectively tapping the ones that exist.
ISI's final report entitled "The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions," presented four pivotal findings:
When in danger
Or in doubt
Run in circles,
Scream and shout!
Mark Twain once wrote that wen he was 17, his father was an idiot, When he was twenty-one, he was amazed by how much his the old man learned in four short years,
Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, if you want to be technical about it) of course, knew that it was his own knowledge that had grown, It's one thing to be smart and another to be wise. Intelligence is an artifact of luck. Wisdom is an artifact of experience.
Aand 2 + 2 =5 as long as it makes you feel good, right?
What a superb and insightful answer!
The children of American aren't going to get this information in a public school. They're too busy being taught diversity and how to be a good muslim. If you love your children, if you love your grandchildren don't send them to government schools (aka government indoctrination centers).This is a load of hogwash. They're being taught how to take a test for the "No Child Left Behind" act. Even when they're being taught civics and social studies they're being taught in a way that is so soul-killingly boring that they won't retain it for 10 minutes after they've finished spewing it up on a test. And I'm talking about the *good* students that are going to a good college.
BA Economics - this was not a hard test; with what we have lavished on public education over the last 30 years, it is inexcusable for students to do so poorly, and does not bode well for a future when they will be expected to lead...imho
It's good to be the king...
Well, you beat me- I only got 55 out of the 60!
(you'd better head to Vegas while your luck is still hot :)
This "test" had a few.
For example it did not mention Blackstone or Mountesque!
It had a philosophical blindering. A recasting of History.
The Founders studied Hebrew. The authors of this test studied Greek and Latin instead. With every question I kept seeing the ghost of Justice Tanney -- as if his spirit impelled the quill that wrote it.
William's most notable contribution, 'Commentaries on the Laws of England', is by far probably the most comprehensive and important legal treatise ever written in the English language. The basis of law in this country and by far, excellent philosophical application on basic human rights within society.
And though a liberal in many senses, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote an excellent book from his lectures: "The Common Law", a book, I have read twice. It was very stimulating to understand to some degree how judges can easily be lead into 'legislating from the bench' in that I'm sure all have read The Common Law.
From Holmes' first lecture, I'll quote last in which he warns. However, many forget that the complicated interrelation between individual rights, government, and the law. The thick web of precedence today seems to override true analysis of the complicated interrelation of the before mentioned. Many judges know the law, but few are Constitutionalists and the works that influenced the thinking and wisdom of our founding fathers. Therefore, past precedence has greater value many times in court, not wisdom. It becomes much easier for judges to rule based on current law and precedence, rather on wisdom and for true justice. Law, civics, philosophy, and history all go hand in hand, but, true wisdom comes from The Scripture. If one in position to create law or adjudicate such, then a deficiency in any of those leads clouded thinking.
Holmes' Comments:
LECTURE I. — EARLY FORMS OF LIABILITY.
[1] The object of this book is to present a general view of the Common Law. To accomplish the task, other tools are needed besides logic. It is something to show that the consistency of a system requires a particular result, but it is not all. The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience. The felt necessities of the time, the prevalent moral and political theories, intuitions of public policy, avowed or unconscious, even the prejudices which judges share with their fellow-men, have had a good deal more to do than the syllogism in determining the rules by which men should be governed. The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics. In order to know what it is, we must know what it has been, and what it tends to become. We must alternately consult history and existing theories of legislation. But the most difficult labor will be to understand the combination of the two into new products at every stage. The substance of the law at any given time pretty nearly [2] corresponds, so far as it goes, with what is then understood to be convenient; but its form and machinery, and the degree to which it is able to work out desired results, depend very much upon its past.
In Massachusetts today, while, on the one hand, there are a great many rules which are quite sufficiently accounted for by their manifest good sense, on the other, there are some which can only be understood by reference to the infancy of procedure among the German tribes, or to the social condition of Rome under the Decemvirs.
I shall use the history of our law so far as it is necessary to explain a conception or to interpret a rule, but no further. In doing so there are two errors equally to be avoided both by writer and reader. One is that of supposing, because an idea seems very familiar and natural to us, that it has always been so. Many things which we take for granted have had to be laboriously fought out or thought out in past times. The other mistake is the opposite one of asking too much of history. We start with man full grown. It may be assumed that the earliest barbarian whose practices are to be considered, had a good many of the same feelings and passions as ourselves."
Thoughtful post! The life of the Law is indeed not logic. Logic is a pleasant and modest dress, a great aid and lever to the reasoning mind, but a stumbling block to human spirit and spiritual intuition and a ruin to spiritual revelation and carefully conveyed tradition can Logic be at its worse — which is rare, but so horrid and deadly a poison when it happens.
The thing that really chaps my rear, is the all-to-often complete disregard to the enforcement of current law and a willful coercion to avoid its enforcement because of political agendas. Refusal to secure our borders and deport people in the country that are here illegally is the case in point. This is the true travesty in our great nation.
Politco's have the power to write and change legislation which should be on the side of the majority of the public. Instead, that human spirit, corrupted frequently, seems to have the upper hand where Logic in of itself dictates to follow the system and our laws as they have been put in place. If it's a bad law change it, pure and simple.
Another perfect point: The unwillingness of states and our Congress to pass and uphold balanced budget amendments except in time of large-scale natural disasters and war.
The law becomes arbitrary -- judges and their advisors pick per their momentary inclination from some straws of the rat's nest one case, and a different straw in a similar case. The Case Law -- kept volumes and volumes of books updated all the time is now ornate and so lengthly that judge follows his or her own whimsy of the moment and is able to quote support in Stare Decisis.
Yet, the long established far more basic and primal definitions of terms of law -- like marriage, like life -- are ignored. They are not considered "Stare Decisis" -- "case law" is King, because it the judges the greatest power to rule per whim.
It's disheartening that the sheeple care not as to what exists today in the courtroom, much less understand the deviation from common sense and true justice.
I thought the whole thing about being a judge was to interpret the law with all the mitigating factors included on the rulings? Not so much in criminal courts, but the upside down civil courts. Seems it's simply agenda driven these days..... to support nothing but the governments' coffers while ushering in socialism.
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