Did you hear that most of us are pretty dumb?
We’ve all seen it on Jay Leno when he asks basic political and current event questions to random people on the street and in the mall. We laugh at how ignorant they are.
Well, we’re all in the same boat. This was recently reported:
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has just released the second study of its kind. In a measure of how well students at American colleges and universities know basic U.S. civic facts, some of the worst performers turned out to be from University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and Duke.
ISI distributed the tests to over 14,000 college freshman and seniors at 50 American colleges and universities. The 60 question, multiple choice exam covered American history, government, international relations, and market economy.
College freshman scored an average of 50.4% on the test. Seniors’ scores were scarcely better at an average of 54.2%. All American colleges and universities failed, and some of the best in the country came out at the very bottom.
For me, one of the most interesting things is that our elected political officials consistently received lowers scores than the average citizen.
So, how smart are you?
Take the test here and report back here on how you did (if you dare)! You can read more about this here: Civil Literacy Report.
Gulp. I only got 41.67%. Do I get excused because I’m British? I did manage to get higher than Texas A&M average score though!
Jeremy, you neglected to mention what YOU scored. 🙂
I got 60%. My excuse is that economics, government, and political history have always been areas of ignorance for me. Also, I’m terrible at dates and geography. So, in other words, I’m pretty dumb. Ha ha.
But the IQ test went much better for me. I was a little depressed after the ISI test result, but then I did several of the IQ tests, and now I feel pretty happy. (No, I will not post my score.) I’m not sure how reliable those IQ tests are, but if they are somewhat accurate, it just goes to show that IQ is not necessarily linked to smarts in other areas.
What we need next is a Bible knowledge exam. If you know of a good one online, post it here in the comments section.
By the way, Andrew, I’d say that 41.67% is fantastic for a British. If you gave me a test like this for British history and politics, I’d get about 10%.
OK, I am relieved to say I got 71.67%. I live in New Zealand, which is where I was educated. My degree is in Computer Science. I studied Bible in the US for 1 year, and my wife is from the US.
I would suggest caution in drawing conclusions from the results of this test. For instance, is it more important to know which document(s) contained the phrase “separation of church and state” or understanding what the founders of the nation understood by the idea?
For instance, the first time my (American) wife went to vote in NZ, she was horrified that the voting booth was INSIDE a church building. Yet that didn’t bother me at all.
As usual, it is easier to test for factual knowledge than understanding. So that is what gets tested.
I feel bad posting this, but I got a 90%. I always was a history buff. :0)
Ok, I should not have asked people to post their results! Now I’m starting to feel ignorant again. Ha ha.
David, where in NZ are you from?
Jeremy, glad you asked. I live in Auckland, where my family & I attend Auckland Bible Church.
If you go to http://www.abcchurch.co.nz, choose Resources, then Sermons, you will find a photo.
Hi, everyone. Late to the party. I got an 80%, not because I’m so smart but it’s because I home school a 5th grader, and we use the A Beka program. Otherwise, I would not have done as well. 🙂
Pam,
Just goes to show you that homeschooling does a good job! Thanks for participating.
I scored 31 out of 33 (94%). And one of those I missed I would have gotten right except I misread the answer (on abortion). Teach me to not hurry. What do I win, Don Pardo?
Nice. 94%! I think that is a record for the comments on this post.
I scored a 78.79%. And I have little interest in politics. I also didn’t pay much attention in public school. I am, however, a somewhat talented test taker. I usually can eliminate all or most wrong answers if I don’t already know the answer.
You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 %
Incorrect Answers
Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average
Question: The Puritans:
Your Answer: opposed all wars on moral grounds
Correct Answer: stressed the sinfulness of all humanity
Couldn’t decide on the Puritan question. The taxes question is obvious to me now why my answer was wrong. I did not look anything up.
New record for the comments! Nice!
66% for me. Not too bad. Most of the questions I got wrong were about economy, because I’m not a fan of money, too much headache. And only a few questions about history wrong. Did good on the Constitution and Declaration questions though.
66.7%!
That was fun.
yeah, it was kind of fun. And I learned something too as I went through.
93.94%, I missed 2. It could be because civics was required when I went to school and most of what I read is history and politics.