US History Test - what do you score?

[KG4JYD]

Students don't grasp U.S. history

Washington Times
February 18, 2008


Today is Presidents Day, so it's an appropriate time to see who has a good handle on national history or government. If you think, however, the nation's college students have the most knowledge on the subjects, think again.

College freshmen earned an average grade of F, or just 53.7 percent, when asked a series of questions about U.S. presidents and key historical events from their times in office. After four years of college, their knowledge didn't improve much.

College seniors got just 55.4 percent on the 60-question quiz given to 14,000 students at 50 colleges and universities across the country as part of a study designed to test their knowledge of America's history, government, international relations and market economy.

"In this election, we are focusing on the youth vote, and it's great that more kids are coming out to vote. But we worry that it's become a kind of cult of personality," says Richard Brake, director of the Lehrman American Studies Center at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del., which commissioned the civic learning study, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy.

"If these kids don't know what has happened in the past, our history, then we fear they are going to be fodder for sweeping rhetoric," said Mr. Brake, a former professor who taught American history and government for seven years.

...

Why should anyone care? Because of the global diplomatic climate, nation's future remains at stake, Mr. Brake argues.
..

Full story:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080218/NATION/812094881/1002



Oh - and the test is here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/NATION/110237217/1001


Post your scores!

[W3MIV]

Students don't grasp U.S. history

You have proven that thesis with post upon post.

[N9MOQ]

Barnes & Noble sells a CD audio course titled: Everything You've Been Taught Is Wrong - Fact, Fiction, and Lies in American History - A University-Level Course Taught by James W. Lowen, author of the best-selling Lies My Teacher Told Me.

Another interesting book:

Contrary To Popular Belief - More than 250 False Facts Revealed. - Joey Green

and there are dozens others.

[AE6IP]

You have proven that thesis with post upon post.

Betcha Matt got question 3 wrong. :p

By the way, Matt, it's not a history test. It claims to be a "civil literacy" test.

It is an interesting hodge-podge of questions.

[al2i]

Dang! I would have aced it except for the very last question, which was a surprise. I didn't realize that education had become such a large federal expense. My favorite questions were 27 and 58. The rest of the test was a bit too easy IMO. :)

[kc2orw]

Welcome to the Ron Paul History of the World Part I test :D

[n2ize]

Test ? Where ? All I saw was a miserable slow site with a bunch of banners and ads. Absolutely disgusting.

[kn4ng]

I thought the test looked interesting, so I printed it out and took it. I was pleased to have passed especially since the last college American History class I took was in 1960 nor had I prepared for the exam. I scored a B- and my weakest area was economic history. The other misses were scattered throughout.

I question the high failure rate with college freshmen and only slightly better scores among seniors. Something I experienced as a VE when I gave ham radio exams was an apparent inability of reading comprehension.. Some candidates simply could not read well enough to provide the pre-published answers. I wonder if this is the situation here and not an ignorance of the subject matter. It may be that students cram for whatever exam is coming up in non-core curriculum and simply forget when the exam is over. The difference in senior and freshmen scores amount to answering about one more question out of sixty correctly. That is pretty bad for four years of college if mommy and daddy are footing the bill!

[W3MIV]

Something I experienced as a VE when I gave ham radio exams was an apparent inability of reading comprehension.. Some candidates simply could not read well enough to provide the pre-published answers. I wonder if this is the situation here and not an ignorance of the subject matter.

Does it matter? One cannot lack reading comprehension and learn course material from lectures alone.

It may be that students cram for whatever exam is coming up in non-core curriculum and simply forget when the exam is over.

That is not learning a topic. That is the same sort of rote repetition of hastily memorized factoids that is so often deprecated here with regard to licensing. It is one thing to pass an amateur radio license without really understanding the material for which a candidate is tested, and quite another to graduate a student (whether from high school or from any level above that) who has a defective understanding of the subjects he or she was tested on and "passed."

The difference in senior and freshmen scores amount to answering about one more question out of sixty correctly. That is pretty bad for four years of college if mommy and daddy are footing the bill!

It is not bad, it is atrocious! And it matters not who is footing the bill.

[WA3KYY]

I thought the test looked interesting, so I printed it out and took it. I was pleased to have passed especially since the last college American History class I took was in 1960 nor had I prepared for the exam. I scored a B- and my weakest area was economic history. The other misses were scattered throughout.

I question the high failure rate with college freshmen and only slightly better scores among seniors. Something I experienced as a VE when I gave ham radio exams was an apparent inability of reading comprehension.. Some candidates simply could not read well enough to provide the pre-published answers. I wonder if this is the situation here and not an ignorance of the subject matter. It may be that students cram for whatever exam is coming up in non-core curriculum and simply forget when the exam is over. The difference in senior and freshmen scores amount to answering about one more question out of sixty correctly. That is pretty bad for four years of college if mommy and daddy are footing the bill!

How many of today's college students are even taking a course or courses that would have prepared them for this test? Very few I would wager which helps to explain the poor scores.

My son recently graduated with a BSEE. He was not required to take a single US History course. He did take one out of his own personal interest but it mostly covered the period of the Civil War so most of what was on the test was not covered. Anyone taking any science or engineering major is likley to be in a similar situation. A broad based Liberal Arts degree is a rarity these days and the distribution of studies requirements for other degrees can often be met without taking a single US History, Economics or other course that would have helped with this test.