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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
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1-in-3 Pass `US Citizenship Test,' Just 19% for Americans 45 and Younger
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(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday October 05 2018, @02:11PM
I think it's relevant that those with power like things the way they are. After all, which is easier to control: A population of folks who has the skills to do the math and the critical thinking and can thus recognize BS when they see it, or a mass of ignorant people who believe propaganda if it's done with proper technique?
As a simple example of this, the last thing a credit card company would like is to lend to people who understand the math behind those loans. Far better to have fools who run up several thousand dollars worth of debt at 25+% interest, make the minimum payment, and end up spending 5-6 times as much on interest as the original goods cost. Which means you want most people to not understand the exponential functions involved in doing said math. Entirely coincidentally, a lot of people get through high school without ever really digging into their Algebra 2 course where that sort of thing is covered, and demeaning anybody who does know the math as a hopeless nerd or something.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.