Some truly depressing results of a survey of high school students:
OKLAHOMA CITY — Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.
The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.
Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.
The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students’ basic civic knowledge.
“They’re questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen,” Dutcher said.
A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.
About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test
Here are the questions and the results, which include such tidbits as the fact that only 11% of the students knew who wrote the Declaration Of Independence
What is the supreme law of the land?
28 What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
26 What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
27 How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?
10 Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
14 What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?
61 What are the two major political parities in the United States?
43 We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
11 Who was the first President of the United States?
23 Who is in charge of the executive branch?
29
Yikes.
I can’t honestly understand how anyone who’s made it through high school can not know this stuff.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:19 am
[...] the blogosphere with the consensus being that our education system is failing and our students are dumber than a bag of [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I think it was a dumb survey and the kids just didn’t give a #$%&, so the thinktank got the answer they were looking for.
You want my cooperation with your project for free? Get real. Offer me some incentive, and then maybe I’ll make a good faith effort. Especially if your project involves a recording of some East Coast sissy with a radio voice jerking me around on the phone.
September 18th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I was raised in Oklahoma City and I am typically a conservative. Taking that into perspective, I want to point out that oppressed societies, whether they be religiously or politically oppressed (as in Oklahoma or Afghanistan), will produce stupid people. The more liberal or social countries produce smarter people and a higher standard of living. Facts are facts — look it up. Overbearing religion and right-wing positions are detrimental to society.