Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday October 04 2018, @09:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the 19-percent dept.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation reports:

Just a third of Americans can pass a multiple choice "U.S. Citizenship Test", fumbling over such simple questions as the cause of the cold war or naming just one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for.

And of Americans 45 and younger, the passing rate is a tiny 19 percent, according to a survey done for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Worse: The actual test only requires that 60 percent of the answers be correct. In the survey, just 36 percent passed.

Among the embarrassing errors uncovered in the survey of questions taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test and conducted by Lincoln Park Stragtegies:

  • 72 percent of respondents either incorrectly identified or were unsure of which states were part of the 13 original states.
  • 24 percent could correctly identify one thing Benjamin Franklin was famous for, with 37 percent believing he invented the lightbulb.
  • 12 percent incorrectly thought WWII General Dwight Eisenhower led troops in the Civil War.
  • 2 percent said the Cold War was caused by climate change.

Also at Sputnik and The Tri-City Herald


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Sulla on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:09PM (15 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:09PM (#744351) Journal

    A couple of year ago one of my coworkers was trying to pass the citizenship test and was studying like crazy for it. She asked me to quiz her on the answers because she wanted to get a perfect score. In my experience folks that come into the US legally and sit for the citizenship test put greater value on the test because they feel like they have a greater connection with the country for getting through the process.

    There is no reason for people not to know these things.. they teach them to you at least once in school and they aren't particularly hard facts to remember.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Troll=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by NewNic on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:16PM (5 children)

    by NewNic (6420) on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:16PM (#744356) Journal

    The test prep documents for the citizenship test are far harder than the tests they actually use.

    For example.
    Test prep: name the original 13 colonies.
    Actual test: name 3 of the original 13 colonies.

    --
    lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by black6host on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:30PM (1 child)

      by black6host (3827) on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:30PM (#744367) Journal

      If what you say is true than I say good. People shouldn't be judged on their ability to study or retain knowledge. However, trying is a very good quality and one that should make any American proud. So, we ask that they try and don't set them up for failure. At least I hope that's how it works. If not, well then round up all Americans, give them the test and kick out the ones who fail. Which test would you rather take? The harder one implied in the study materials or one that shows you do care even if rote learning is not your thing?

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by NewNic on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:37PM

        by NewNic (6420) on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:37PM (#744371) Journal

        If what you say is true than I say good.

        Personal experience from a few years ago. Things may have changed. In fact they were just bringing in a new test when I had my interview.

        --
        lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by fyngyrz on Thursday October 04 2018, @11:40PM

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Thursday October 04 2018, @11:40PM (#744385) Journal

      name 3 of the original 13 colonies

      1. Ants
      2. The Innuit
      3. Prairie dogs

      Did I pass? Huh? Did I???

    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday October 05 2018, @04:30AM (1 child)

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday October 05 2018, @04:30AM (#744501) Homepage Journal

      Find my Great Uncle Roger Sherman's signature on the Declaration Of Independence.

      And yes, while not descended from a signer, I am related to one.

      You're going to have to take a good long time to turn up Roger's sig.

      --
      Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @06:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @06:01PM (#744730)

        You're going to have to take a good long time to turn up Roger's sig.

        It's 5th from the bottom in the rightmost column. Didn't take long to find at all.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:21PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:21PM (#744361)

    What did you eat for breakfast 64 days ago? It is quite simple stuff, you should be able to remember such an easy fact right?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Friday October 05 2018, @12:28AM (3 children)

      by hemocyanin (186) on Friday October 05 2018, @12:28AM (#744403) Journal

      A set of commonly known facts is completely unlike some random factoid of zero insignificance. Anyone can study for the former, nobody remotely cares about the latter.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 05 2018, @01:47PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday October 05 2018, @01:47PM (#744603) Journal

        Commonly known facts change. I was taught in school that Columbus discovered the New World. Now we know the first Europeans to discover the New World were the vikings a thousand years earlier. I was taught in school that Indians had crossed the Bering Strait 10,000 years ago following woolly mammoths. Now we have abundant archaeological evidence that humans have been in the Americas for far longer than that, and may even have come in waves by more than one path. I was taught in school that the Founding Fathers crafted the Constitution of the United States from scratch. Now I know they borrowed quite a bit from the Iroquois' Great Law of Peace. I was taught in school that Cro-Magnons exterminated Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. Now we know from DNA evidence they interbred with them, and with another extinct human species called the Denisovans. I was taught in school that the Anasazi of the Southwest vanished without a trace a thousand years ago. Now we know they didn't go anywhere, we just call them Puebloans now.

        Those are just a handful off the top of my head. There are scads more from the realms of medicine, chemistry, etc., etc. When we consider all those, we can perhaps forgive ourselves a little for getting quiz questions of this nature wrong.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday October 05 2018, @02:19PM (1 child)

          by hemocyanin (186) on Friday October 05 2018, @02:19PM (#744618) Journal

          But they change slowly enough that one can always study the current state of human understanding which is a totally different thing than remembering your breakfast from 65 days ago.

          • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 05 2018, @02:45PM

            by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday October 05 2018, @02:45PM (#744633) Journal

            See, I think it's all a palimpsest. It's a stream of information in which the oddest things stick around, and things which you would think everyone remembers are forgotten. Say "zeppelin," and to a man the audience will conjure up the flaming horror of the Hindenburg, and will utter, "Oh the humanity!" in a Pavlovian manner. But they'll never draw the same association with the hundreds of flaming wrecks of 747s with far greater loss of life.

            Does that mean we're stupid, or that we're efficient at discarding knowledge we don't consider relevant to our lives in favor of information we do? I know I don't know.

            --
            Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @12:53AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @12:53AM (#744412)

      Rolled oats. I always have rolled oats so yes it was easy.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @01:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @01:12PM (#744596)

      A mug of coffee. That's all I have in the morning.

    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday October 05 2018, @04:36PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Friday October 05 2018, @04:36PM (#744682)

      I almost never eat breakfast, so 98% probability of "nothing."

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @01:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @01:23AM (#744440)

    It signals that you made an attempt to learn about the world around you. My parents did not even knows the president of the US does not make the laws. An omnipotent king and an executive require two separate types of people and skills. Don't vote for one when you want the other.