http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/re … /quiz.aspx

I got s B... which means I have some things to learn of course! But, the scary thing: "The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%." No wonder students today suck! Anyway, how did you do?

cheers,

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A "B"?  Doesn't the quiz rate you strictly by percentage?

I managed a 69.70%.  I really had to dig back to my grade school social studies knowledge for some of these questions.

If you look at the site, they say A = 100-90, B = 89-80, etc...
So, basic school grades. But yeah, you get a percentage back.

cheers,

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I got a 78.79%.

So..... what was your percentage?

Got them all except for #9, and I dispute that one.

Spoiler:
The Constitution as originally ratified didn't give the federal government the power to levy an income tax, but the 16th Amendment gave it that power. I couldn't decide which one to pick, since I was pretty sure that both A and B were correct, so I went with B, which I was slightly more sure of.

I got 54.55%... and I'm frankly surprised it was that high.

(I guessed on a few of them, though...)

Ha, I tied with overachiever Brandon.    My Achilles' heel was question #30 -- apparently I was wrong to predict the answer using current events.

Not sure why it matters, and I actually don't remember the exact percentage. Low 80s. I missed a few questions. We all have things to learn.

cheers,

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edit: Alex and Brandon, nice job! I do agree, some of the questions were a bit ambiguous.

Because a percentage is more accurate than a letter grade?  After all, you made a pretty strong statement based on a percentage quota yourself:

Well, I actually did NOT make that "pretty strong statement", although I do agree it is a strong statement. I just took it from the website, although you are correct that a percentage is more accurate than a letter grade.

cheers,

-avatar!

ps Is not Joaquin Rodrigo's "Fantasia para un gentilhombre" amazing

I got 63.64% which is a bit pants but I guess I don't live there so some of it was totally alien to me. I don't know if the questions are the same each time but the answer to one question was in another question. That was handy.

A non-American scores higher on an American civics test than most Americans...
yeah, hmmm, I just can't help but find this troubling.

I scored a 75.76%, which I think is pretty good since I haven't had a U.S. history or U.S. government class since 1996.

75.76% here.  I've taken a few political courses a while back so I think I had a better shot than the average bear, but honestly... I don't think many of the answers really matter.

Frankly, as long as you know the founding principals and ideals of our country then I fail to see the importance behind knowing the document in which it was written or forum in which it was said.  For foreigners particularly, if not for citizenship or green cards or whatever, why should they give a care who said what and when.  I imagine Thomas Jefferson means the same to them that Chairman Mao means to me... aka hardly anything.

The rest strikes me as interesting trivia and interesting history to see the circumstances in which these ideas were formed, but not necessarily important. 

As long as you know 2+2=4 is it really necessary to know where you got that information?

That being said, I did trip up on some of the procedural workings of government which I do think is important to know. Olla-Wella.

63.64%, but I haven't studied at all in the field in well over a decade.  I was as disinterested in history and politics back then as I am now.

I missed four of them.  Most of the ones I missed were the who-said-what questions.  I also preferred to think that the government should not increase spending during a recession, but apparently that's wrong.

Sure you did.  You said, "No wonder students today suck!"

Not necessarily. The question was what the government is most likely to do, not what it should do. The standard Keynesian prescription is to use deficit spending to stimulate the economy during a recession, and that's what governments have traditionally done in recent times. It doesn't hurt that deficit spending allows politicians to be all things to all people (bread, circuses, and lower taxes!).

Canadian here.  My score was 90.91 %.  But I have a masters degree in international politics, so I accept I'm not an average American.

42.42%. Now, who wants to quiz me on something I think is important, like Silent Hill's plot?

That's easy.  The dog was responsible for everything.

-Mike

Absolutely -- it's been a favorite of mine for years.  His "Concierto de Aranjuez" has some pretty great parts too, if you haven't heard it before.

Oh for sure, his "Concierto de Aranjuez" is his most famous piece. I think it's on par with "Fantasia para un gentilhombre", although the latter just has a cooler title I don't think there's more beautiful guitar music than Rodrigo... in fact, if there would be a Guitar Hero Classical, I would be the first in line for that!

cheers,

-avatar!

66.7...

the only question that counts is the last one (about annual income)

72%

I'm disappointed because I'm currently taking a U.S. Constitution and History course right now but also was a tad distracted when I did it. I think I also was boggled by a few of the questions too...

90.91%

I love that kind of stuff... every once in a while I'm disappointed I wasn't a social studies teacher.

There's still time, isn't there?

You answered 26 out of 33 correctly — 78.79 %

Not bad considering Social Studies wasn't my best topic by far back in high school. I thought for sure that I'd score lower.

I agree that some items are almost trivia, but overall I think it's important to understand the historical reasons why laws were written, how they came about, etc. I think that if people forget such things, you're eventually doomed to relive them (cliché? perhaps, but true as well). Anyway, that's my perspective on it, and I think it's very important for Americans to have a basic knowledge of how the country was founded and how it operates. And basically, Americans are failing at this, although not as bad as they're failing in science. Now, why are Americans failing so miserably? Here's a really interesting read:

http://www.hereticalideas.com/2008/09/w … e-failing/

cheers,

-avatar!

You answered 23 out of 33 correctly — 69.70 %

I thought I'd do much worse, because I had to drop both Political Science and Intro to Law when I attempted them in college. I did get through American History with a B, but only because I found it marginally interesting. My most abysmal failure in college was Adolescent Psychology; I couldn't score higher than 24% on an exam. I managed to pass General Psychology with a C. The only set of classes I aced across the board was Latin.

that comes in very handy when identifying all the species of critters you find in your place.

Kids are failing in the dire public school system today mainly because values and civics are not taught in a mesh with the quality of such schools in varied areas and parents who don't parent. Add to that public schools are a one-size fits all mess -- if schools were based upon choice (like in European countries like Belgium where kids actually learn or private schooling), you'd be able to hold teachers and administrators to something called standards of expectation. If you don't like it, you find another school. With public school, your only option is logistical shifting -- sometimes not always a financial option (taking into consideration better schools are in affluent areas).

I once spoke to a middle school teacher who teaches at a public school in an affluent suburb of Hartford (CT) just to relay why public schools have gone downhill over the past decade or so and he said in not so many words his job is stressful, long-hours, political resulting in mental tire. Another girl I asked said in a poor-income city here that the teacher just left answers open to a test and left the room!

In defense of commercial television news, yes they're for entertainment (and often news-meshed with entertainment) but I would disagree with the assertion that article put forth that you won't find informative, persuasive minds on there. On the other hand, If you wanted to watch dry, bland but informative material, go with CSPAN or public television -- without any competitive free-market aspect, we know they won't fail.

It also helps me communicate with them. They're so old that they still speak Latin.

I answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %

I had good history teachers, as I still remember much of this material without researching.