Graduates Know Even Less About History (Take The Quiz!)

Madison.com ^ | September 19, 2007 | Anita Weier

[enough_idiocy]

85%

[rlmorel]

You answered 53 out of 60 correctly — 88.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

The history I did well on...the philosophy, less so. I have not read Toqueville or Plato. Economics I also did less well on.

I thought some of the questions were very strange.

[rightwingcrazy]

I thought we were a slight net loser in that one, but “stalemate” was the closest they gave and close enough.

[2111USMC]

Same here,

(But at least we beat Harvard!)

[OKIEDOC]

Did anyone besides me see a bias in some of the questions concerning social issues and the military.

[VOA]

“Graduates Know Even Less About History”

Something known even to historian/writer David McCullogh, as noted in
this exerpt from “Imprimis” of April 2005 from his speech titled
“Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are”.
URL for the article:
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2005&month=04

Our Failure, Our Duty
We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by-and-large
historically illiterate. And it’s not their fault. There have been
innumerable studies, and there’s no denying it. I’ve experienced it
myself again and again. I had a young woman come up to me after a
talk one morning at the University of Missouri to tell me that she
was glad she came to hear me speak, and I said I was pleased
she had shown up.

She said, ”Yes, I’m very pleased, because until now I never understood that
all of the 13 colonies —the original 13 colonies—were on the east coast.“

Now you hear that and you think: What in the world have we done?
How could this young lady, this wonderful young American, become a
student at a fine university and not know that?

I taught a seminar at Dartmouth of seniors majoring in history,
honor students, 25 of them. The first morning we sat down and I said,

”How many of you know who George Marshall was?“

Not one.

There was a long silence and finally one young man asked,
”Did he have, maybe, something to do with the Marshall Plan?“
And I said yes, he certainly did, and that’s a good place to begin
talking about George Marshall.

[Bigun]

I disagree on the War of 1812 answer, anybody else?

ABSOLUTELY!

If fighting the only real superpower on earth at the time to a stalemate doesn't establish one as real player I don't know what would!

[HangnJudge]

Statistics still rolling in

Sample size 84
Average 86% (51.4)
Std. Dev. 8% (4.9)

Still looking great
Future leaders of America must know their past

[Windcatcher]

You answered 56 out of 60 correctly — 93.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #19 - C. philosopher kings.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.
Question #60 - B. social security.

[SergeiRachmaninov]

57 of 60

[Myrddin]

I never took any econ classes. Getting the correct answer on Keynesian economics was a consequence of reading on FR. I took the test just to see how I would do after neglecting the topic for 36 years. My daily work is tied up in real time operating systems, digital signal processing and data communications. I'll endeavor to raise the average when we have a group test on those topics.

[eyedigress]

Hillsdale has been brought up twice during this discussion. Which represents Hillsdale?

[Jim Noble]

56/60 93.33%

[sam_paine]

Doh! Plato and Jamestown Ooops! You answered 55 out of 60 correctly — 91.67 % Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0% Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0% You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

[cpdiii]

86.67% My score was not a result of my formal education but the fact that politics, government, economics and business interest me and therefore I read about them constantly.

[rlmorel]

I am not sure about bias, but...I thought some questions were worded very strangely, and the inclusion of some questions was weird. I admit I consider myself very well versed in history, but I don’t understand why they have questions on Keynesian economics in there.

[aruanan]

I just took it. The first question I missed because I misread one of the answers. The second question I just didn't know the answer to at all. I couldn't even weed out a couple of probables.

You answered 58 out of 60 correctly — 96.67 %

Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.You can consult the following table to see how freshmen and seniors scored on each question as part of the survey administration.

Where to from here?

Answers to Your Missed Questions:

Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.

[eyedigress]

That you did. I have the same problem. Dealing with fires on my own systems which probably generate more than 5 mill a year will keep you “specialized” for a while.

[Ciexyz]

I got 6/8 correct on the 8th grade history quiz - and I'm a history buff.

[HangnJudge]

89 replies

Average 86% (51.6)
Std. Dev. 8% (4.8)

He does not remember his history
is bound to repeat it