The test of American civic literacy, that is. I got 32 out of 33 right (96.7%). The very last question was the one I flubbed -- yet (a) still seems the right answer.
The average score is 49%. People who hold elected office did worse -- 44%.
New test question: Which actress in The Hot Spot was hotter -- Jennifer Connelly or Virginia Madsen? (I'm still trying to raise my miserable 51% male-ness quotient; see post below.)
25 comments:
84.85%. I'd feel very proud of that as an American... if I wasn't British.
27 out of 33. I didn't get the last one either. Some of the last ones were personal opinion, if you ask me. I completely disagree with our entire economic structure--I think it's a politer version of Norse hoarders, but that's another comment--and a lot of those answers were the "acceptable" answer. It was only the right answer if you agreed with the basic premise of the system.
Anyway, I still scored 81.82%, which is better than elected officials, so maybe I should run for office. You definitely should. Heh.
I tied ya, missed the same question.
I got 31 of 33 (93%), but hey, I just woke up! (Cannonfire is the first thing I read in the morning)
23/33
Ouch!
In my defense, some of those economic questions seemed sort of 'fishy' to me.
And yes, the answer to the last question could be either/or to me.
BWAH! Joe running for office...
What do you think the chances of that are, Joseph?
100%!
With regard to the last one, if taxes in equals government spending out, you *would* have no debt - if they'd always equalled each other. If they'd only equalled each other this year, say, but the government spent more than they took in last year, you'd still have the leftover debt from then. The taxes per person equals the spending per person would hold true no matter what because both taxes/income and spending are immediate measures, not cumulative like debt is.
Answer to 18 is a AND b, the suffragists started as abolitionists and Anthony was a leading speaker in both movements.
A very economically conservative bias in the questions and answers.
87.88 percent. I had to follow my conscience on some of them -- for example, the "right" answer to 25 ("Free enterprise or capitalism exists insofar as:") is "individual citizens create, exchange, and control goods and services," but the right answer is "government implements policies that favor businesses over consumers."
I surprised myself: I answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94%
I missed 27 & 33 and since I don't understand economics at all, I'm not surprised.
Missed two, both economic--which doesn't surprise me in the least as econ is mostly gibberish to me.
As for the rest, well, the DAR would be very proud of me--I won the DAR prize as the outstanding history student two years running in high school. (My liberal firebrand ma wanted me to tell the old bats to stick it, but it was the late 50s and my political awareness was undeveloped, to say the least. If it had been ten years later--well, ten years later I already had an FBI file. ;-)
I scored 90% on this (far more important) test, but the one I missed (I checked 'phishing') the test said was a legitimate email (despite an illiterate sentence and a typo) from a savings bank.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10105144-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5#addcomm
or
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5sh2ep
I only got 24. But I'm Canadian and have no idea what exactly was said in the Gettysburg's address. I don't know Puritans. And some of the questions are just weird. Like 27 and 29.
I did get the last one though. It can't be A because you only tax for interest on Federal Reserve loans, but the Government still owes the principal.
I got 30 out of 33 correct. I need to re-read the Gettysburg Address and I've never been much for Puritan thinking, so those along with the fact that my first reaction to a recession was to cut taxes and government spending in order to stimulate the economy (momentarily forgetting about government jobs which keep people employed) knocked my score down. Still, none too shabby, in my opinion.
Here's where they are coming from.
http://www.isi.org/about/our_mission/principles_free_society.html
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute works to instill an understanding and appreciation for America’s founding principles. These six values represent the core beliefs inherent in ISI’s mission and its activity.
Limited Government
The rightful functions of government are to guarantee individual liberty, private property, internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice. When the state exceeds this proper role, it accumulates power and becomes a threat to personal liberty.
Individual Liberty
Individuals possess rights to life, liberty, property, and freedom from the restrictions of arbitrary force. They exercise these rights through the use of their natural free will.
Personal Responsibility
Personal responsibility is central to the idea of a free society and to the concept of self-government. Because each individual is morally responsible for his acts, citizens in a free society have an obligation to educate themselves to further the common good through the political process: this is the proper and necessary function of self-government.
The Rule of Law
Laws, not men, rule a free society. The Constitution of the United States, with its division of powers, is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government while preventing the concentration of power.
Free Market Economy
Allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of a free society, and also the most productive and efficient supplier of human needs.
Moral Norms
The values, customs, conventions, and norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition inform and guide a free society. Without such ordinances, society induces its decay by embracing a relativism that rejects an objective moral order.
Gary, I should have mentioned that the site has a conservative spew. But the test is nevertheless -- you should pardon the expression -- intelligently designed. Most of the questions are free of spin and go to knowledge of general history.
Actually, I have no big problem with the test or the organization that produced it (or with your not having mentioned more re the site's orientation, which is easily enough accessible to us.) Their report is well worth the read, their work useful.
My comment came from 1.) having noticed some 5 or 6 comments had problems with the econ portions of the test, and 2.) with this organization's views on free market economy -- those after only scanning the test, the comments and the organization's mission.
Interestingly, their report at the site, which I later read, shows the most frequently missed item as the one on "Free Markets vs. Centralized Planning," which only some 17% of respondents answer "correctly." I think that item has validity problems, but I still have a headache and things to do, so I'll leave it at that.
(I've spent the week evaluating students' English proficiency via individual interviews, the bulk of them on Friday, so I just plastered the whole of their "core beliefs" rather than just the Free Market portion, which really was my main concern. No energy to explain if had I just isolated it.)
"Conservative" and "liberal" are terms I would prefer to have erased from our lexicon; I think their use is more harmful than useful these days.
Thanks for making us aware of this site. I wish I had more free time to think and write on this.
Hey, I missed the same question as all the cool kids!
33 did seem a matter of opinion and I definitely smelled a bias in 31. Maybe in the short term unrestricted free trade increases a country's productivity, but when all the fat's been squeezed out like it's mostly been in American industry for decades, then production will flow to those countries with the least cost to produce goods. There go environmental protection, government oversight, labor laws, etc.
So - two fact (FDR's judges and Lincoln-Douglas) and two opinion questions wrong. Not bad for someonedw with a 99654 zip code!
BonneyAnne
Another good article Joe...
No doubt many are experiencing trouble with their computers or they don't realize they are. This is another area that needs clarity as some know and some don't know. Anyone not knowing what little games are being used end up being the most vulnerable. There is so much of this currently going on that this too needs to be made known to everyone.
When I started with computers, a common joke laughed at was when a tech person over the phone instructed his client to insert the disk and "close the door". The client of course inserted his newly received “special” disk into the computer then got up and closed his office door! We've come a long way but the funny business played on us within our computers has come a long way too and many don't know it.
My computer use skills may be more finely tuned than many but just by narrowing down my routine and watching closely, I've been able to notice when someone is in my system. I’ve even caught them doing many different things to my files, disks, flash drive, hard drive and much more. It isn't difficult but does require concentration within a narrowed routine. Everyone would be amazed to learn some of the simple yet ingenious and creative things these tricksters have built to use on us. And all we really need to do is to educate ourselves and watch closely. It’s much like being approached by a deceitful person who by their traits and characteristics are really (is we can read it correctly) showing us a lot of red flags.
Someone not familiar with the many tricks played within their computer can easily take a fall ending with disastrous personal doom. This is especially if their livelihood is with generating electronic data for purposes of convincing others or to set foundational direction that impacts many. It actually may be a simple mistake but the reflective trouble it causes may result unfortunately in destroying those who made the innocent mistake. Yet the tricksters were able to get away without ever being surfaced to pay consequences. Make no mistake about this we all work towards maintaining a high degree of integrity, honesty, truthfulness and other qualities but all it really takes is something simple and maybe stupid to destroy us.
Marty Didier
Northbrook, IL
78.79 %, not bad for a Canadian...
I got 27 out of 33, or 81.8%. Was expecting to get much less (I'm from England), so I'm quite pleased!! Did some intelligent guesswork on a few questions.
Joe - Q33: if taxes equal government spending, this means the govt is not taking on any new debt; it doesn't say anything about its existing debt. Cf. if a car stops accelerating, its velocity could be anything.
Q27 etc. is false: "Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because [...]". Like yeah, right. Look at Dubai. Or ask why real wages have been falling for so many people in the US for so long. The false concepts and assumptions are so many that there's no point in starting to list them.
b
I got 33 out of 33, because I could tell what the person who wrote the question thought the answer would be. If I didn't know what the "right" answer was, it was just a matter of re-reading the question, and "reading between the lines" to find the "correct" choice.
If you don't believe me, I got 1400 on my SAT's, so I do pretty well on multiple choice tests.
And the answer to the other question is Virginia Madsen, but I do have a thing for fair women. Jennifer Connelly is certainly no hag. Tough choice there.
31 of 33 correct - Yippee! Do I get to be President now?
HiHat
(Unabashed BRAG:) 31 of 33, and I answered "a" on the last question, even though you warned against it.
But who created that quiz, Milton Friedman? I only got the economic questions right because I'm familiar with the fantasies those economist phrenologists believe in.
How about questions on Madison v. Marbury? Dred Scott? The Monroe Doctrine? Vietnam?
The sole Bill of Rights question was botched as well.
to Gary McGowan,
Thanks for the background research, smithee!
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