"Jerry Foster" wrote in message
...

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

"Wes" wrote in message
...
Ignoramus29233 wrote:

Sorry about that. Now I really do feel like a dumbass LOL.
Dennis
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/


You answered 52 out of 60 correctly 86.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 73.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 73.0%

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

Darn that wasn't very easy.

You answered 50 out of 60 correctly - 83.33 %

It wasn't easy, but it's interesting to me that posters to this NG scored
so
high. Our average must be around 50 or so, which I consider pretty good
for
someone who doesn't read history for fun or as part of his or her job.
The
average age for this NG is probably pretty high, too, and you can forget
a
lot of details if you don't keep up with the subject(s).

I suspect we'd do well against elite college students in many areas,
including math and science. We have a lot of years of experience, and
there's some degree of advantage because many of us care about the
content
of these subjects in one way or another--a fact that counterbalances the
tendency to forget over time. What's left for the students? I'd say
English,
except that most posters here are quite articulate and write at a very
high
level. I think we're well above the level of typical college students.

Maybe we should all apply for honorary PhDs...

--
Ed Huntress



I think that most of us are older is to our advantage. I learned most of
what was on this little quiz in high school. And, when I was a kid, you
learned or you flunked. The schools were not at all bashful about this.
But things are different today.

I could go into a long story, but the bottom line is that the high
schools,
at least the big schools here in California, will do a pretty good job of
teaching those students who want to learn. And they will let those
students
slide who want to slide. Unfortunately, it seems that the only students
who
want to learn are the Asians who are generally fortunate enough to have
parents who value education.

And, finally, with reference to this NG, I've never met a machinist who
wasn't rather intelligent... and opinionated... and ornery...

Jerry

Yes, I agree on all counts. I attended what was then one of the better
public high schools in the country (Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ)
and it clearly gave me a leg up in college. But my son's high school
education was far better than mine in every subject. He was a full year
ahead of me in math, biology, history, art, and just about everything else.
He had opportunities to take all kinds of advanced classes and he grabbed
them all.

Given good schools, one can get a good education in a public high school --
or slide through, as you say.

--
Ed Huntress