"technomaNge" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

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 can hardly wait for the first episode of
"Are you smarter than a metalworker / old fart?"

Hey, that's not a bad idea...

--
Ed Huntress

Where is this test? I had a computer failure and had to start
over with grandaughters computer and thought 500000 or some such
was too much to download so just took the 500 and must have
missed the start of the thread.
Have read the responses since this post.
...lew...

Lew,
Click on this link then scroll down to "Civics Quiz" on the left side
of the page.

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/

That should get you there,

Dennis

TwoGuns wrote:
On Sep 18, 3:01 pm, "Newshound" wrote:

"TwoGuns" wrote in message

roups.com...


Take the 60 question test and see how your results compare to those of
students at some of America's elite Universities and Colleges. I was
disappointed in my score. . . until I compared it to the results of
students from Harvard, Yale and some of the elite schools.

Enjoy,
Dennis

er, you will need to post the link!


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: 75.1%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.1%
..................
Where to from here?
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #8 - E. Thomas Jefferson's letters.
Question #15 - B. The Supreme Court struck down most legal restrictions on it in Roe v. Wade.
Question #19 - C. philosopher kings.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #30 - D. establishing an official religion for the United States.
Question #34 - B. President Washington's Farewell Address.
Question #36 - D. The authority of a legitimate sovereign.
Question #39 - D. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.

Some questions a trifle too US specific for me.

Tom

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:22:45 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:29:21 -0400, the renowned Stuart Wheaton
wrote:

Ignoramus29233 wrote:
On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:47:01 -0700, TwoGuns wrote:
On Sep 18, 3:01 pm, "Newshound" wrote:
"TwoGuns" wrote in message

ups.com...

Take the 60 question test and see how your results compare to those of
students at some of America's elite Universities and Colleges. I was
disappointed in my score. . . until I compared it to the results of
students from Harvard, Yale and some of the elite schools.
Enjoy,
Dennis
er, you will need to post the link!
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.

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email
.
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 #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #9 - B. was a stalemate.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and
increased most for the upper class.
Question #60 - B. social security.

I got 51 right, between us, the only one we both missed was 60...

Did you say 'Interest on the debt' too?

Stuart

45 out of 60 (75%) and I've never studied American Civics, so a C is
about right.


Question #2 - B. stressed the sinfulness of all humanity.
Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #7 - B. Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, Appomattox
Question #10 - E. slavery and its expansion.
Question #11 - C. 1851-1875
Question #19 - C. philosopher kings.
Question #21 - A. support ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #26 - D. John Locke.
Question #33 - C. To receive ambassadors.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #36 - D. The authority of a legitimate sovereign.
Question #53 - B. a resident can benefit from it without directly
paying for it.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.
Question #60 - B. social security.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany


You answered 56 out of 60 correctly — 93.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.1%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.1%

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
.
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 #1 - D. 1601-1700
Question #21 - A. support ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Question #50 - A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of
means and ends.
Question #54 - D. can be reversed by government spending more than it
taxes.

Should have read em slower....

Gunner

What bothers me is he's a normal person. He could have been taught ot
think.
Karl


On Sep 19, 3:42 am, Brent wrote:
On Sep 19, 7:26 am, " wrote:

I asked a high school senior when Columbus discovered America. His
answer was 1942. So obviously he was taught the answer but not how to
think and be self correcting.
Karl

Maybe I'm odd But;

To me thats worse than not knowing. I have a parakeet in my living
room that i can teach that trick to. It doesnt have to know anything
to answer back 1492 if it hears the word columbus. "Parrotting"
answers doesn't add comprehension and is a sign that they didnt
actually UNDERSTAND anything they just repeated.

Isn't it Scary that a highschool senior can repeat but not yet think?
I hope I'm not the only person bothered by a statement like that

Brent

The high school I went to and now my sisters kids go to almost has a
50 % dropout rate.It's being hidden so they don't lose their money.
Karl



On Sep 19, 6:31 am, "Jerry Foster"
wrote:
"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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Its a bit of a worry when us Aussies can get a better score than some
of your US college graduates.

A few guesses in there but I note that a few of you guys got some of
mine wrong as well.

You answered 44 out of 60 correctly — 73.33 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.3%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.3%

Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #7 - B. Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, Appomattox
Question #8 - E. Thomas Jefferson's letters.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #18 - D. The Declaration of Independence.
Question #19 - C. philosopher kings.
Question #21 - A. support ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #24 - D. A political system where state and national
governments share power.
Question #31 - A. Edmund Burke argued that society consists of a union
of past, present, and future generations.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #33 - C. To receive ambassadors.
Question #34 - B. President Washington's Farewell Address.
Question #43 - A. A state that seeks to expand its power generates
resistance by other states.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.
Question #60 - B. social security.


Its the Poms that like their warm beer not us.

Bob.

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:17:14 -0400, Wes wrote:

Alan wrote:

I am Australian and scored 41/60, most of my failures were obscure
American history.

Well done! I wouldn't even hazard a guess on my ability to answer a test on
your political/economic system.

Things I know about Austrailia:

Water rotates the wrong way down the drain.
Summer is off a bit on the calendar.
There is a fence across a lot of real estate called the 'great dog fence'.
You don't know when to stop adding trailers to a semi.
For a bunch of riffraff shipped off from England you turned out allright.
You have some real gun haters in your government.
Whenever the US has been in a fighting war, you've been there with us.
I hear you think warm beer is good, or is that the Germans?

Wes

TwoGuns wrote:
....
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #9 - B. was a stalemate.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and
increased most for the upper class.
Question #60 - B. social security.

Those are very much the same as the ones that I missed. I wonder what
the distribution of answers is? That would be interesting to see. I
mean if 95% of the quiz takers got the "Marbury v. Madison" question
wrong that says more about the question that it does about the quiz takers.

Some of the stuff was so obscure that I was irritated at being asked.
Who cares if it was "Marbury v. Madison" - what matters is the principle.

My $.02,
Bob

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:28:25 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

TwoGuns wrote:
...
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #9 - B. was a stalemate.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and
increased most for the upper class.
Question #60 - B. social security.

Those are very much the same as the ones that I missed. I wonder what
the distribution of answers is? That would be interesting to see. I
mean if 95% of the quiz takers got the "Marbury v. Madison" question
wrong that says more about the question that it does about the quiz takers.

Some of the stuff was so obscure that I was irritated at being asked.
Who cares if it was "Marbury v. Madison" - what matters is the principle.

My $.02,
Bob

Not only obscure, but I have several books within less than
10 feet of me that would answer all of their questions. Not
to mention the internet. Knowing where to look for the
answer in a timely manner (and having a place to look) is
far more important in my opinion.

Filling ones head full of trivia is only useful if you plan
on being a Jeopardy contestant

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

"Stuart Wheaton" wrote in message
...
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
TwoGuns wrote:
...
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #9 - B. was a stalemate.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and
increased most for the upper class.
Question #60 - B. social security.

Those are very much the same as the ones that I missed. I wonder what
the distribution of answers is? That would be interesting to see. I
mean if 95% of the quiz takers got the "Marbury v. Madison" question
wrong that says more about the question that it does about the quiz
takers.


52% of freshmen got it right, 41% of seniors, it had the highest rate of
'unlearning' in the entire test. If you look under the sidebar "Tables"
and scroll down, you will find a table that lists exactly what you ask
for. It shows the percentage of students who got each question right.

Some of the stuff was so obscure that I was irritated at being asked. Who
cares if it was "Marbury v. Madison" - what matters is the principle.

If you refer to Roe v. Wade do you expect people to know what you are
talking about? I don't think Roe v. Wade should be overturned because I
don't want a return to segregation. (Or was that that other case...)

Stuart

You have to know Marbury if you want to understand how it is that the
Supreme Court gets to decide the constitutionality of laws. It isn't in the
Constitution itself. The Supreme Court decided it had the power in that
famous case.

It's a vitally important part of American constitutional history.

--
Ed Huntress

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
TwoGuns wrote:
...
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #5 - D. Yorktown
Question #9 - B. was a stalemate.
Question #13 - B. the nature and control of Reconstruction.
Question #23 - B. Marbury v. Madison.
Question #32 - B. Common Sense.
Question #35 - A. discouraged new colonies in the Western hemisphere.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and
increased most for the upper class.
Question #60 - B. social security.

Those are very much the same as the ones that I missed. I wonder what
the distribution of answers is? That would be interesting to see. I
mean if 95% of the quiz takers got the "Marbury v. Madison" question
wrong that says more about the question that it does about the quiz takers.


52% of freshmen got it right, 41% of seniors, it had the highest rate of
'unlearning' in the entire test. If you look under the sidebar "Tables"
and scroll down, you will find a table that lists exactly what you ask
for. It shows the percentage of students who got each question right.

Some of the stuff was so obscure that I was irritated at being asked.
Who cares if it was "Marbury v. Madison" - what matters is the principle.

If you refer to Roe v. Wade do you expect people to know what you are
talking about? I don't think Roe v. Wade should be overturned because I
don't want a return to segregation. (Or was that that other case...)

Stuart

Ed Huntress wrote:
You have to know Marbury if you want to understand how it is that the
Supreme Court gets to decide the constitutionality of laws. It isn't in the
Constitution itself. The Supreme Court decided it had the power in that
famous case.

It's a vitally important part of American constitutional history.

It *is* interesting that it happened that way. What is vitally
important, though, is that the court does have the power. I would give
a student 90% for knowing that the court has the power to decide
constitutionality and the other 10% if he knew it was because of
Marbury. That's my perspective.

Bob

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:55:44 -0400, Stuart Wheaton
wrote:

If you refer to Roe v. Wade do you expect people to know what you are
talking about? I don't think Roe v. Wade should be overturned because I
don't want a return to segregation. (Or was that that other case...)
========
IMNSHO what really screwed the pooch was Baker v Carr and
Reynolds v Syms.[one man - one vote]

This was Earl Warren's revenge on the state legislature that
stopped his socialist program in its tracks when he was Governor
of California when it was still a state with an operational form
of republican [limited] government. He would be proud of the new
Peoples' Republic and the proliferation of home owners
associations.


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
============
Merchants have no country.
The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment
as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.

"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:55:44 -0400, Stuart Wheaton
wrote:

If you refer to Roe v. Wade do you expect people to know what you are
talking about? I don't think Roe v. Wade should be overturned because I
don't want a return to segregation. (Or was that that other case...)
========
IMNSHO what really screwed the pooch was Baker v Carr and
Reynolds v Syms.[one man - one vote]

This was Earl Warren's revenge on the state legislature that
stopped his socialist program in its tracks when he was Governor
of California when it was still a state with an operational form
of republican [limited] government. He would be proud of the new
Peoples' Republic and the proliferation of home owners
associations.

"Socialist program"? What did that consist of, George?

The big story about Warren on the Supreme Court, and the thing that made
Eisenhower furious, was that he thought he'd appointed a hard-core
conservative. That was Warren's reputation before he was made Chief Justice.

--
Ed Huntress

I got 68.33%, not bad for a Canadian.


Steve R.



--
Reply address munged to bugger up spammers

Ed Huntress wrote:

"technomaNge" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:

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 can hardly wait for the first episode of
"Are you smarter than a metalworker / old fart?"

Hey, that's not a bad idea...


They would have to cover the camera lens to protect it from some
faces, so they might as well make it a radio program. ;-)


How about: Extreme Metalworking, the video game where one person is
the hapless metalworker, while the other players are crappy suppliers,
crooked eBay tool dealers, family who don't understand WHY you want to
work with metal, HOAs that want you to paint your tools according to
their color scheme, and ungrateful customers? Oh, wait, that's real
life.




--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:41:48 +0100, Mark Rand
wrote:


A random datum:-

You answered 38 out of 60 correctly — 63.33 %

I stopped studying English history at 13 and _never_ studied American history.
It did seem to me that a number of questions were based on politically correct
American opinion rather than fact,


Which ones? An outsiders view would be interesting.

Gunner