out-of-the-box

I wasn’t at all surprised at this story, and for a few days I’ve been pondering about just how we got to such an abysmal level of erudition.

Maybe its the fearless leader that is moving out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the next two months.  Or could it be that ridiculous No Child Left Behind nonsense that has been holding education for ransom over too many years.

In Washington state I am sure it is the WASL that has something to do with these results.

To me its just a disgrace of the first order.

I don’t know about them but I went and took the test, thought the questions were simple and scored 100% correct answers.  I graduated high school over 40 years ago.  It was a time when education had substance.

It, to me, is like judges and attorneys.  They all need remedial education. Looks like another bunch can be thrown in to the cook pot.  Maybe this is how we can get some collective brain power.

And remember you voted them in and they appointed their cronies to plush jobs.

US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics

Thu Nov 20, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

“It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI’s civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned,” said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI.

“How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don’t understand the American experience?” he added.

The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics.

Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomly selected to take the test, including “self-identified elected officials,” was one which asked respondents to “name two countries that were our enemies during World War II.”

Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain.

Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress.

Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to “supervise the first televised presidential debates.”

In fact, the system of choosing the US president via an indirect electoral college vote dates back some 220 years, to the US Constitution.

The question that received the fewest correct responses, just 16 percent, tested respondents’ basic understanding of economic principles, asking why “free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning?”

Activities that dull Americans’ civic knowledge include talking on the phone and watching movies or television — even news shows and documentaries, ISI said.

Meanwhile, civic knowledge is enhanced by discussing public affairs, taking part in civic activities and reading about current events and history, the group said.

Copyright © 2008 Agence France Presse.

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