2008 Civic Literacy Test

[COSteve]

I was sent this link to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Full Civic Literacy Exam. Give it a try; just 33 questions that test your civic literacy. 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? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.

As this is an interest of mine I found it relatively straight forward and scored a 94% (31 of 33) correct. 2008 Civic Literacy Test

[AJMD429]

Missed two of 'em too; I laughed aloud at a few of them, because the 'fake' answers were so stereotypically what big-government libtards would actually answer.

[AJMD429]

Wow - it's worth taking the short quiz just to see the 'table' at the end, that lists the percentage of citizens and politicians who got each one right.

Only 66% of the politicians could correctly pick which major nations we were at war with during World War II...

Less that 50% of them could correctly identify the three branches of U.S. Government (I think you'll recognize the faux answer THEY probably gave)...

We truly are a nation of fools....

On the bright side, maybe 2008 was just a really bad year, and people were unusually stupid then...

[pwl44m]

I got 24, I was always happy with a pasing grade.
Perry

[Blaine]

26 Right

[Udy]

Well that was fun, but I only got 24 right. I would personaly question the study how ever. Certianally professors get a better grade than 50% or what ever it was.

edit:
Can I add that this test is not very telling in what you really know cause it multipul choice, and easy to eliminate several of the dumb answers. Not a fether in my cap, but I probably wouldn't of got near that many if I had to come up with the answer on my own inteligence instend of eliminating the wrong answers. Wish I could of done better. I have been studying history a lot more the last few years on my own and learning a lot more than I ever did in school. I guess I just didn't care then, but now I find it much more interesting and pertinent to life.

[Canuck Bob]

Got 24 for 72%, not bad for a foreigner I think.

[Griff]

Another'n with 31 out of 33. And the two I missed, I'd considered the right answer and out-thought myself!

[AJMD429]

One thing about these 'tests' is that they are often focused on isolated facts vs. principles. I'll bet everyone on this forum knows all the principles involved, even if they don't know which 'founding document' a particular quote is from.

[Old Time Hunter]

Got 28 correct....three of the wrong answers I changed from the initial correct anwers and the one about MLK I did not answer.

[Hawkeye2]

Well I missed 3 and one of those I don't feel so bad about as I don't know a lot about Greek philosophers. I can't concieve anyone not knowing who our 2 principal enemies in WW2 were given that that is 90% of the Military Channel's content.

[Old Ironsights]

30/33 - and the 3 I "missed" were fiscal policy/economic questions that are arguable.

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average
- Both answers are valid. If the annual Deficit is Zero, then the Debt will be zero too unless you are trying to pay off past debt - in which case the taxes cannot equal spending.

Question: Which of the following fiscal policy combinations has the federal government most often followed to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?
Your Answer: increasing both taxes and spending
Correct Answer: decreasing taxes and increasing spending
- Not in Democrat Administrations they haven't. Democrats ALWAYS (with the exception of JFK) increase both.

Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:
Your Answer: property rights and contracts are best enforced by the market system
Correct Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
- Both answers are valid

[two bit okie]

31 out of 33. any politician who got less than 32 correct should be fireed on the spot.

[Blaine]

31 out of 33. any politician who got less than 32 correct should be fireed on the spot.

I can forgive ignorance, that can be corrected..... but being dumb, and not caring is a different matter.

[Griff]

31 out of 33. any politician who got less than 32 correct should be fireed on the spot.

I can forgive ignorance, that can be corrected..... but being dumb, and not caring is a different matter.

On a State or local level, I could too. But, for a national politician to be SO ignorant of OUR history as to only get 55% correct... that's stupidity or nor caring personified. And, as is apparently the case, they, being ignorant of history, are steadily repeating, not ancient history, but just early to mid-20th century history with their socialist and fascist policies. What we need is a return to our Liberalistic foundation.

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis) is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and the free exercise of religion.

Ergo, anyone that calls me a "liberal" would be right... and if they're thinking it's a put-down... they'd be WRONG! The media has done the American populace a huge disservice by calling the Democratic Party of today "Liberals".

[AJMD429]

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis) is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and the free exercise of religion.

Ergo, anyone that calls me a "liberal" would be right... and if they're thinking it's a put-down... they'd be WRONG! The media has done the American populace a huge disservice by calling the Democratic Party of today "Liberals".

It is interesting how the 'labels' are changed and twisted and used perjoratively over the years.

I'm on one hand the most 'conservative' or 'right wing' guy out there if it comes to economic freedom or firearms freedom, but on the other hand, I'm the most 'liberal' or 'left wing' type if it comes to religious freedom or 'drug' laws. (Dunno why the 'left' doesn't tolerate economic freedom or why the 'right' doesn't tolerate religious freedom... ).

The REAL political axis/division in this country (or really, the whole world) is not the 'left-right' one, but the 'libertarian-authoritarian' one. It is the latter one which constitutes the essence of our nation's founding, but we've lost our focus, and are now distracted with the 'left-right' nonsense. We need to regain our focus, become tolerant of our fellow citizen's freedoms, and become intolerant of those who would replace freedom with tyranny, regardless of their political party.

[Griff]

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis) is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and the free exercise of religion.

Ergo, anyone that calls me a "liberal" would be right... and if they're thinking it's a put-down... they'd be WRONG! The media has done the American populace a huge disservice by calling the Democratic Party of today "Liberals".

It is interesting how the 'labels' are changed and twisted and used perjoratively over the years.

I'm on one hand the most 'conservative' or 'right wing' guy out there if it comes to economic freedom or firearms freedom, but on the other hand, I'm the most 'liberal' or 'left wing' type if it comes to religious freedom or 'drug' laws. The REAL political axis/division in this country (or really, the whole world) is not the 'left-right' one, but the 'libertarian-authoritarian' one.

And I'm right there with you Doc... except maybe on the drug issue... fiscally conservative, and a personal responsibility liberal... and while I may be "my brother's keeper", that doesn't apply to those that only share my neighborhood, state, country or even the world.

[Cast Bullet Hunter]

32/33. Couldn't remember the basis of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Since this centered around the basis of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and I am from, and schooled in Nebraska, really feel silly about missing that one!!!

[jnyork]

Missed two.

[madman4570]

30/33
Surprised I got that many right!
Course using two search engines(going back and forth) didn't hurt either!

"man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

Ok,Ok in other words, I-----------------------------------?? and still got beat!

[pokey]

29 out of 33.

[Old Shatterhand]

"24 out of 33 correctly — 72.73 %" Being a foreigner, I can live with that score. It was an interesting test, which gave some insight in the american view on politics.

Pete