Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

1-in-3 Pass `US Citizenship Test,' Just 19% for Americans 45 and Younger

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

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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This discussion has been archived.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.
1-in-3 Pass `US Citizenship Test,' Just 19% for Americans 45 and Younger | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 112 comments | Search Discussion
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: 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.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (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.