[uggabugga]

ok, the first time i posted this it was closed, because the moderator feared it was simply a 'bash Oklahoma' trolling thread. which surprised the heck out of me, because i love Oklahoma and spent many happy years there, and am a proud OSU graduate.

let me elaborate. i do NOT believe Oklahomans - OK high school students in particular - are any less informed than students in other states. just the opposite, as a matter of fact.

that is, my guess is that high school students throughout the country would do equally poorly if they took this test, and that these results probably ARE more or less representative of high school students as a whole.

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.

full disclosure: i would have missed one of these questions myself
75 Percent of Oklahoma Students Can't Name the First President - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

[LadyRobyn]

Thank-you for reposting uggabugga!

I did find some solace when I read this comment:

Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.

And they did only survey 1000 students... Also the article doesn't mention how those one-thousand were chosen.

All of that aside, I was embarrassed to realize that despite being educated in CA (and High-School was a Private school who's curricula was geared towards College entry ) I would NOT be able to pass the test to be an American Citizen!

After reading the article, I looked up the rest of the questions asked on the test and found myself even more embarrassed.

How many of YOU know the answers to those 10 questions, much less the other 90?? (No internet peeking!)

Sample INS Citizenship Questions

I also noticed they are switching to a newer version of the test. (And no I didn't do any better on THAT one!)

Questions and Answers for New Naturalization Test

[karibear]

Originally Posted by LadyRobyn

Thank-you for reposting uggabugga!

All of that aside, I was embarrassed to realize that despite being educated in CA (and High-School was a Private school who's curricula was geared towards College entry ) I would NOT be able to pass the test to be an American Citizen!

After reading the article, I looked up the rest of the questions asked on the test and found myself even more embarrassed.

How many of YOU know the answers to those 10 questions, much less the other 90?? (No internet peeking!)

I missed two, but in self defense, I should say it's been 44 years since I had a government class. I should also say that back in the Dark Ages when I was in school, one did not get out of junior high without passing state mandated tests on both the state government [including the state constitution] and the federal government [including the US constitution]. Without passing those two courses, each with a state test, one did not get into, much less graduate from, high school.

[Oildog]

I went 9 for 10, I get a green card

I saw a similar story about Geography a while back, not just pointing to Oklahoma though. About the same percent could find Iraq or Afghanistan on a map.

[okcpulse]

This is why I believe the public school system, in addition to American culture in general, is tanking horribly. School boards have gotten so PC and have altered the curriculum in such a way that most students come out of high school AND college knowing jack $hit, and these people somehow get professional jobs. Completely unacceptable.

And American culture in general over the last 20 years has treated basic core knowledge as though it doesn't matter. Well, because of that off-the-wall attitude on behalf of students and parents, I am not surprised to see that the 75% figure almost matches my estimate of the American education ratio... 80% dumba$$ and 20% smarts.

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by LadyRobyn

Thank-you for reposting uggabugga!

I did find some solace when I read this comment:

And they did only survey 1000 students... Also the article doesn't mention how those one-thousand were chosen.

All of that aside, I was embarrassed to realize that despite being educated in CA (and High-School was a Private school who's curricula was geared towards College entry ) I would NOT be able to pass the test to be an American Citizen!

After reading the article, I looked up the rest of the questions asked on the test and found myself even more embarrassed.

How many of YOU know the answers to those 10 questions, much less the other 90?? (No internet peeking!)

Sample INS Citizenship Questions

I also noticed they are switching to a newer version of the test. (And no I didn't do any better on THAT one!)

Questions and Answers for New Naturalization Test

seems like the newer questions are more difficult.

i doubt i would have passed this quiz when i was in high school, because civics bored me practically to tears. but good grief.. not knowing that george washington was the first president of the United States? there's something very wrong

[Goodpasture]

george who?

[mkfarnam]

I made 48 out of 60.
That's all the further I went,

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

ok, the first time i posted this it was closed, because the moderator feared it was simply a 'bash Oklahoma' trolling thread. which surprised the heck out of me, because i love Oklahoma and spent many happy years there, and am a proud OSU graduate.

let me elaborate. i do NOT believe Oklahomans - OK high school students in particular - are any less informed than students in other states. just the opposite, as a matter of fact.

that is, my guess is that high school students throughout the country would do equally poorly if they took this test, and that these results probably ARE more or less representative of high school students as a whole.



full disclosure: i would have missed one of these questions myself
75 Percent of Oklahoma Students Can't Name the First President - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

This was on the radio yesterday.

[HeatherDawn]

I'm a little (okay, a lot) skeptical of this survey. I'd like to know more about their methods. It was only 7 years ago that I was in high school and I guarantee that at least 75% of the kids at my school could tell you who the first president was.

That being said, I'm surprised a conservative think tank would publish survey results like these. I'm about as conservative as they come and I don't want to give anyone fuel for the fire against conservatives but, let's think about this.

Oklahoma is possibly the most conservative state. Why then, would you want everyone to think that Oklahomans know nothing about civics and government? Hmmmm not too dang smart if you ask me.