American's, how do you score?
Nov 20, 2008 3:18 pm
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I saw on the news this morning that the American people scored higher in a recent civic's test than those that held public office. Both groups scored and "F" though.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2008/additional_finding.html
"Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions. This table shows the “knowledge gap” for each question: the difference between the percentage of common citizens who answered correctly and the percentage of officeholders who answered correctly."
If you want to try the test yourself it is at the following link. I scored a 91%. I thought that it was rather easy and it's hard for me to believe that the general public and especially our government officials couldn't even get 50% of those question correct.
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx
"Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better?"
It is really sick that college educators scored so horrible.
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22 comments
The average score stated above enforces my thoughts that everyone that wants to vote should have to pass some form of test (i.e. civics or economics) to then have the ability to vote in US elections. Being informed on how the gov runs and why they run the way it does is very important! For those that think there is a right to vote in a national election please tell me where I can find the information on that since there is no right to vote in the US constitution.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
— Nineteenth Amendment
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20001213.html
read this.
I agree with you though. I just believe that nobody should be allowed to hold public office without a knowledge of civic's or being able to get a top secret security clearance using the same standards that is required of a private in the army. That would eliminate over half the people in Congress and 6 of our last 8 Presidents when counting the current President elect.
It is interesting that the U.S Senators were appointed rather than elected until the 20th Century.
just like the 2nd amendment gives you the right to bear arms... we just overlook the milita part. take what you can get i guess.
just remember "We the People of the United States" arent the ones elected.
I need a civics refresher...
One more thing, some states do have in their State constitution the right to vote but that is different from a US constitutional right to vote.
As for the second amendment, the milita is made up of people and having giving the people the right to bare arms so that the milita can be called upon when needed. Thats my take on that.