Posted on 09/19/2007 5:48:59 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin-Madison did relatively well in a 50-college test of how much students learned about history and economics during four years of college, but students in Wisconsin and nationally knew little when they came in and not much more when they left. No college did better than a D-plus on the Civic Literacy Test released Tuesday by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a nonpartisan conservative educational organization that stresses the values of a free society.
The national average was F.
The test of 14,000 randomly selected students revealed that some of the most expensive Ivy League universities, with the highest-paid presidents and largest government subsidies, were the worst-performing, the institute found.
Overall, the nation's freshmen and seniors scored slightly more than 50 percent on the 60-question exam. The institute said that a kindergartner would have scored about 20 percent correct just by guessing.
The study tested freshmen and seniors at the colleges and universities, in order to determine how much history they learned there. The researchers did not test the same students in freshmen and senior years, but those who were freshmen and seniors in the same year.
Eastern Connecticut State University ranked first, by adding 9.65 percentage points to the score from freshman to senior year. Marian College, a private school in Fond du Lac, was second, with a 9.44 percentage point gain, while the University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked 15th, gaining 6.3 percentage points.
UW-Madison and Marian College were the only Wisconsin schools tested.
Living in the present
Asked about the exercise, David McDonald, chairman of the History Department at UW-Madison, termed the test interesting but questioned the institute's conclusions.
Students generally learn basic history in high school, he said, adding that they often study historical details in order to pass college entry exams, but then go on to pursue other knowledge at the college level.
"Colleges reflect general attitudes and patterns in society. This is not a historically oriented society. We look at quarterly reports instead of long trends. There is a lot of emphasis on living in the present, and not a great deal of understanding of larger historical patterns," said McDonald, who grew up in Canada but got just three wrong on the American history exam.
"There is a mythical past in which everyone knew this material. If you are from a well-to-do household with well-educated parents, you will do well on this and other academic areas. Students should probably know the sequence of events in the Civil War. But is it more important for Americans to know that John Locke was a major influence on the Declaration of Independence or that they have a strong understanding of their rights and be willing to act on them?"
Students at several expensive universities, including Yale, Cornell, Princeton and Duke, actually lost ground during four years of college education.
But the median score of students at those prestigious universities was higher than most colleges where students gained more knowledge during their college career.
For instance, freshman at Yale got 68.94 percent of the answers right and those at Cornell got 61.9 percent correct, though seniors did worse in both cases.
UW-Madison freshmen scored 51.57 percent correct and seniors got 57.87 percent. At Marian College, freshmen scored just 33.66 percent and seniors 43.10 percent.
Gorbachev who?
The test consisted of 60 multiple-choice questions about America's history, government, international relations and economics. The test, the answers and the results at the various colleges can be found online at http://www.americancivicliteracy.org
Typical questions included: "The Constitution of the United States established what form of government?" and "Which wall was President Reagan referring to when he said, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall'?" The test also included some questions on the U.S. economy and political philosophy.
"The evidence from our ongoing research shows that colleges, especially the most expensive and elite schools, are failing to advance students' knowledge of America's history, government and free market economics and consequently not preparing their students to be informed and engaged citizens," said Josiah Bunting III, chairman of ISI's National Civic Literacy Board.
"The time has come for higher education's key decision-makers -- state legislators, trustees, donors, alumni, faculty, students' parents -- to hold the nation's colleges and their presidents accountable for teaching their students America's history and institutions."
McDonald said nationwide, students who took the test did well on questions regarding Abraham Lincoln, the New Deal and Brown vs. Board of Education, and did worst on the Revolutionary War, Plato and the requirement for a just war, a question that he said was strangely phrased.
Students who study history in college learn that events are the results of several levels of cause, and that people are products of their times, McDonald said.
"They learn that evidence must be scrutinized and viewed with skepticism," he said. "Our job is to produce people who can do critical thinking, who are aware that they hold certain views and understand why."
But the question show the defense that colleges are about more conceptual less factual stuff, is nonsense. Easily a third of the questions are conceptual (major result of the Fed buying more government bonds e.g.) and require actual knowledge of how the social world functions.
Hyper-PC opinionated drivel, on the other hand, will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks if you also have $3.
The scores are simply dreadful. The questions are easy, and any college graduate should be able to ace this.
A public good is a good that can be enjoyed by me without reducing the supply of it potentially available to you, i.e., a good we don't have to contend over. None of the answers address the definition. You can quickly eliminate all but B, but B isn't very satisfying as an answer.
National defense is certainly a public good, and it's true that Mr. Bill pays a lot for his, I pay some, and the homeless guy nothing. But the fact that the homeless guy gets defended for nothing isn't material to the definition.
68.33%. Shameful for my education level. My problem with tests has always been second guessing my knowledge. If I had gone with my first answer instead of stopping to “study” the question more, I would have scored better. I should trust my first answers. I did worse on the Econ. questions. I knew that we spend more on S.S. and checked that first and then I stopped to think. Well, considering the amount of the national debt, surely the interest on that is more than S.S.....isn’t it? LOL. In my defense (I really need one), I never had a course in economics. Besides at 73, it has been a while since I went to school.
59/60. Got the question about the Just War wrong, #36.
Helped my wife with an American Government Class but have been interested in history, economics, poly science, for 40 years. And I am a regular FREEPER
Ok, so I didn’t know when the ladies got the vote. Sheesh. If they’re gonna test on trivia like that, what’s the point?
You answered 55 out of 60 correctly — 91.67 %
Question #2 - B. stressed the sinfulness of all humanity.
Question #11 - C. 1851-1875
Question #33 - C. To receive ambassadors.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.
Question #59 - C. requires those with higher incomes to pay a higher ratio of taxes to income.(embarrassing lapse)
PS I’m Canadian.
No problem here. Firefox 1.5.0.12.
I’ll try again on my desktop at home.
Thanks, and congratulations on your score!
#5 is the only one the dumb grey-haired hippies will immediately rule out - they won’t have a clue about the others.
As for ‘possible’, they all were meant to look possible. You have to know the exact date of each event to answer. That’s why it’s a hard question.
Yep, the multiplier question. Good eye.
That's the thing. While taking the test, I began to think about the biases (real or imagined) of the testers. I would readinto some of them too much, then try and talk myself out of doing so. Ah, like I said before, I could pick a 635 Freepers and we'd get the country back on the right track again
Someone has brought that up, maybe you should know who it is. :^)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898421/posts?page=20#20
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%
How did I get “Yorktown” wrong?
59/60. Got the question about the Just War wrong, #36.
Helped my wife with an American Government Class but have been interested in history, economics, poly science, for 40 years. And I am a regular FREEPER
I got the Fed question right, having heard Larry Kudlow last Friday explain that very point in response to a question from Hugh Hewitt.
I got it right by elimination. I knew the Just War theory didn’t require zero civilian casualties.
I feel a little better about my self after taking the test. 86% on the civic test (75% national average) and got 7/8 on the 8th grade history test. Thank God it wasn’t an algebra test.
Got an 80%.
Could argue some of the ‘correct ‘ answers.
One in particular. Abortion was legal in all States, very restrictive but legal.
Some I flat out guessed. The Aristotle, Plato stuff.
Yes, I tried that too but got it wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.