Proof That I Know What I'm Talking About

Americans have the dumb: Haven't the first clue when it comes to American history and Civics.

Just today, to-freakin'-day I was grousing at the tv in the docs waiting room about how all the assholes in the government haven't the first fucking clue about how the government is supposed to function according to the Constitution and how the vast majority don't even have a basic knowlege of economics, much to the amusement of the two other folks in the room, and also about how ignorant the average person is when it comes to government or economics.

Major Findings

Finding 1:

Americans Fail the Test of Civic Literacy

Seventy-one percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.

• Liberals score 49%; conservatives score 48%. Republicans score 52%; Democrats score 45%.
• Fewer than half of all Americans can name all three branches of government, a minimal requirement for understanding America’s constitutional system.

That's fucking pathetic. Executive, Legislative, and Judicial for those not in the know.

Finding 2:

Americans Agree:
Colleges Should Teach America’s Heritage

Americans remain divided over many issues, but on one they have forged a deep consensus. A large majority agrees that colleges should prepare citizen leaders by teaching America’s history, key texts, and institutions.

• Seventy-three percent in the West, 69% in the Midwest, 74% in the Northeast, and 74% in the South agree.
• Seventy-four percent of conservatives agree, as do 71% of liberals.
• Seventy-two percent with a high school diploma and 74% with a graduate degree agree.

Uuuuhhhh, ya think?

Finding 3:

College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge

Earning a college degree does little to increase knowledge of America’s history, key texts, and institutions. The average score among those who ended their formal education with a bachelor’s degree is 57%, or an “F.” That is only 13 percentage points higher than the average score among those who ended their formal education with a high school diploma.

• Only 24% of college graduates know the First Amendment prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.

Case in point: my ex-friend Mrs. PA, who has two Masters degrees and zero clue when it came to the subject of good governance.

Finding 4:

Television—Including TV News—Dumbs America Down

ISI examined whether other factors add to or subtract from civic literacy and how they compare with the impact of college. The survey revealed that in today’s technological age, all else remaining equal, a person’s test score drops in proportion to the time he or she spends using certain types of passive electronic media. Talking on the phone, watching owned or rented movies, and monitoring TV news broadcasts and documentaries diminish a respondent’s civic literacy.

In contrast to these negative influences, the civic knowledge gained from the inexpensive combination of engaging in frequent conversations about public affairs, reading about current events and history, and participating in more involved civic activities is greater than the gain from an expensive bachelor’s degree alone.

Finding 5:

What College Graduates Don’t Know About America

By the time an American earns a bachelor’s degree, it is highly unlikely that he or she will have a solid command of the founding and Civil War eras, core constitutional principles, and market economics. Pre-college education tends to increase knowledge of themes from twentieth-century American history at the expense of economics and pre-twentieth-century themes that tend to be the foundation of much subsequent political discourse. Colleges begin to reverse this trend, but not enough to close significant gaps in these crucial categories of civic knowledge.

• Only 54% can correctly identify a basic description of the free enterprise system, in which all Americans participate.

Sad, sad. All very sad considering I learned the majority of that stuff BY THE TIME I FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL.

Additional Finding

Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public

Officeholders typically have less civic knowledge than the general public. On average, they score 44%, five percentage points lower than non-officeholders.

• Thirty percent of elected officials do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.

Which I can attest to from personal experience. My dirty little secret is that I worked for 10 years in a "technically" government job. Oh. My. Effin'. Gawd.

And because I'm a smarty pants, I just had to take the quiz. I got 88%. (missed 4, but WAY better than average) Not too bad since I haven't been in school for like a decade.