# american history quiz....



## Brownsville Brooklyn (Apr 9, 2010)

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx


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## SkiDork (Apr 9, 2010)

78.79%


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## Brownsville Brooklyn (Apr 9, 2010)

SkiDork said:


> 78.79%



67% at least i passed:rollnly time i ever read anything about american history was in political science at my beloved www.iup.edu. i did not pay attention in school until my senior year at northport high:-o:roll:


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## severine (Apr 9, 2010)

Wouldn't have mattered. Unless you're taking a college course specifically dealing with it, most schools never get past WWI; history apparently doesn't exist after that.


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## Brownsville Brooklyn (Apr 9, 2010)

severine said:


> Wouldn't have mattered. Unless you're taking a college course specifically dealing with it, most schools never get past WWI; history apparently doesn't exist after that.



curriculums have to change. kids need to know MATH, how it works, whats a stock & a bond, whats a mortgage, whats a bank loan, how to calculate interest, how does the fed reserve operate, whats a credit score, how does it work & on & on....america also needs parents that actually want to be parents....


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

severine said:


> Wouldn't have mattered. Unless you're taking a college course specifically dealing with it, most schools never get past WWI; history apparently doesn't exist after that.



Or before 1783

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %
Question #7 - D. Gettysburg Address- I thought that sounded pretty Jeffersonian, guess not.


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## severine (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> Or before 1783



Really? We usually covered (albeit briefly) Columbus on... but always ran out of time at the end of the year for after WWI.


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## Brownsville Brooklyn (Apr 9, 2010)

*how about some us business history? lol*

what was the first industry in america? what organization is regarded as the greatest economic entity ever created?


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

93.94%

#27 and #29 wrong.  Stupid questions.


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## Warp Daddy (Apr 9, 2010)

78.79%  too


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

severine said:


> Really? We usually covered (albeit briefly) Columbus on... but always ran out of time at the end of the year for after WWI.



1783 is "Modern" world history. In my round 2 College career, had to take it again. One of teh students asked why the book started at 1783, and the proff wasn't sure. Being the smart ass I am, I had to chime in- US constitution, French Revolution, the beginning of the rule of law, government on paper, relatively important elements of the modern world. I slept through the rest of the semester.


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## SkiDork (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> 93.94%
> 
> #27 and #29 wrong.  Stupid questions.



Nice score!


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> 93.94%
> 
> #27 and #29 wrong.  Stupid questions.



I'm going to go out on a limb and say you answered D and E on those two.


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> I'm going to go out on a limb and say you answered D and E on those two.



You are psychic.  We should harness this powers, no?


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> You are psychic.  We should harness this powers, no?



I'm just that good. They're the best two answers, save for the correct ones. Unless you're anti-free market and go with the whole coersion bit.


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> I'm just that good. They're the best two answers, save for the correct ones. Unless you're anti-free market and go with the whole coersion bit.



Workers and strippers of the world unite.


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> Workers and strippers of the world unite.



Dyslexics Untie!


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## riverc0il (Apr 9, 2010)

This is more civics than history though some historic questions were included. 84.85% here but I think some questions/answers were not phrased well. Such as Question 8 about the Supreme Court in which the correct answers to me read that the President can just appoint justices any time he wants when the Court disagrees with them whereas you need to await a vacancy. Question 29 is tricky in that I was skimming the answers and didn't see the word "directly" in the correct answer. 33 I should have read more carefully as well, tricksy on the wording.

I had no idea on questions 4 and 7.


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## riverc0il (Apr 9, 2010)

Another interesting thing to note:

The web page's sub title is The Diverging Influences of the College Degree & Civic Learning on American Beliefs. Just for the record, I think every bit of my knowledge effecting my scores on that quiz came from high school social studies classes and learning on my own. Though I will credit a college philosophy class or two with helping me with the answer for #13... however, ultimately I decided that answer based on my post collegiate readings into the founding of the country.

Now you could make an argument that college educated citizens are more likely to do additional readings and learning. But I doubt that is the aim of the research here. If the citizenry of the country is not doing as well in history and civics, I would look to the high schools, not the colleges, as the solution. This is stuff people should know regardless of higher education.

/soap box.

EDIT: Interestingly enough, I reviewed their prior year's research findings which seem to conclude exactly as I suggested that college does not increase civic literacy and historical knowledge and in some cases college students forget what they learned in high school and have lower scores as senior's. Perhaps the agenda here is to get more required civics and history electives at the college level? The institution I work for just recently began a financial literacy elective, I thought that was an awesome idea and I wish I had that option as an undergrad.


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> Another interesting thing to note:
> 
> The web page's sub title is The Diverging Influences of the College Degree & Civic Learning on American Beliefs. Just for the record, I think every bit of my knowledge effecting my scores on that quiz came from high school social studies classes and learning on my own. Though I will credit a college philosophy class or two with helping me with the answer for #13... however, ultimately I decided that answer based on my post collegiate readings into the founding of the country.
> 
> ...



I don't think they're saying people should know this stuff. I think their real agenda (considering the "Media Highlioghts" of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News) is that college educated folks are elitists who don't know history and are leading the country astray. Of course, I haven't bothered to read their "latest findings," as I believe it will only make me angry, but that's my guess.


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## riverc0il (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> I don't think they're saying people should know this stuff. I think their real agenda (considering the "Media Highlioghts" of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News) is that college educated folks are elitists who don't know history and are leading the country astray. Of course, I haven't bothered to read their "latest findings," as I believe it will only make me angry, but that's my guess.


Yea, I went back and added something to my prior post after having read some of their research findings from the past few years. They were rather critical of TV et al. and even mentioned that elected officials scored worse than the GP during one year. :roll: That seems to fit as elected officials are elected not for their understanding of civics or history but rather than understanding of voters and a particular party platform. That is the only concern I have.... the founders of the country knew mob rule was not a good idea thus our democracy is representative specifically because human nature and society is such that every citizen will not be an ace at civics, economics, and international relations. I don't think citizens having a better understanding of history or civics would have much effect on the direction of the country, though. It is too much of a chicken versus the egg thing and too systematic throughout history for me to believe otherwise. But I do think we should do better than less than half of the public knowing the three branches of government. Not for the public benefit but rather for the individual's benefit.


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> This is more civics than history though some historic questions were included. 84.85% here but I think some questions/answers were not phrased well. Such as Question 8 about the Supreme Court in which the correct answers to me read that the President can just appoint justices any time he wants when the Court disagrees with them whereas you need to await a vacancy. Question 29 is tricky in that I was skimming the answers and didn't see the word "directly" in the correct answer. 33 I should have read more carefully as well, tricksy on the wording.
> 
> I had no idea on questions 4 and 7.



8 was in reference to FDR's court packing scheme.


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## riverc0il (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> 8 was in reference to FDR's attempted court packing scheme.


Guess I need to brush up on my history.  

This thread has now proved educational for me.


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## bvibert (Apr 9, 2010)

I did so poorly on the quiz that I apparently broke the system, the website keeps crashing and won't give me a score.  It's probably for the better though.


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## Geoff (Apr 9, 2010)

90.91% - 3 wrong

Crap reading comprehension on two of them


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## MR. evil (Apr 9, 2010)

I thought I would do better on this.I agree with rivercoil about the wording of #8. I wanted to choose Roe V Wade on #12 but it seemed too easy of an answer so I thought it was a trick. I though I selected what turned out to be the correct answer for #33 but I must have selected the wrong button.


_You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 %

Average score for this quiz during April: 74.6%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.

You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.

Where to from here?

Answers to Your Missed Questions:


Question #7 - D. Gettysburg Address
Question #8 - C. appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views
Question #10 - C. Religion
Question #12 - B. the Supreme Court struck down most legal restrictions on it in Roe v. Wade
Question #33 - D. tax per person equals government spending per person_


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## bvibert (Apr 9, 2010)

bvibert said:


> I did so poorly on the quiz that I apparently broke the system, the website keeps crashing and won't give me a score.  It's probably for the better though.



Wow, it finally gave me my score: _You answered 27 out of 33 correctly — *81.82 %*_

Way better than I thought I'd do


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## bvibert (Apr 9, 2010)

MR. evil said:


> I though I selected what turned out to be the correct answer for #33 but I must have selected the wrong button.



Same thing for me, I know I selected D, not C.


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

Pretty good scores all around. Some of the questions are a little outside the normal bounds, but seems like a relatively knowledgeable crowd here, despite daily indications to the contrary.


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## bvibert (Apr 9, 2010)

BTW - we went through this quiz in 2008, I think they change the questions, but the topics remain the same.

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=42502



bvibert said:


> I actually scored better than I thought I would, 21 out of 33 - 63.64%.  I couldn't imagine anyone knowing less about this stuff than I do...



Guess I got more smarterer since then...


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> Pretty good scores all around. Some of the questions are a little outside the normal bounds, but seems like a relatively knowledgeable crowd here, despite daily indications to the contrary.



Last night I stuck a pea up my nose.


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

bvibert said:


> BTW - we went through this quiz in 2008, I think they change the questions, but the topics remain the same.
> 
> http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?t=42502
> 
> ...



I did too- at least, I remembered Socrates, but still had a block on Lincoln.

And Marc, didn't you learn anything from the Great Raisin Fiasco in November? Or the Carrot Calamaty in February? Clearly, you did not.


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## legalskier (Apr 9, 2010)

Got two wrong, one of which I was so close to answering correctly (27). Darn. 
I have to agree that the wording on several was tricky; I had to read them very carefully.




Marc said:


> Last night I stuck a pea up my nose.


Nice. 
You might consider treating yourself with a neti pot for that. Here's an instructional vid using various liquids:  *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQm7YpxgOnA* 
Good luck Marc!  ;-)


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## Marc (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> I did too- at least, I remembered Socrates, but still had a block on Lincoln.
> 
> And Marc, didn't you learn anything from the Great Raisin Fiasco in November? Or the Carrot Calamaty in February? Clearly, you did not.



Slow learner.


The funniest was still the Danish Debacle of '06.  The ceiling is still has stains on it.


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## ctenidae (Apr 9, 2010)

Marc said:


> Slow learner.
> 
> 
> The funniest was still the Danish Debacle of '06.  The ceiling is still has stains on it.



I've never seen anyone do that with icing. Astounding. And the things the girl from Tijuana did, spinning the Danish on the burro's...well, this is a family show.

Makes me think of the Raisinets episode with the twins. When was that, '05?


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## mondeo (Apr 9, 2010)

I got the same ones wrong. I still think the Pres declares war and Senate confirms.


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## mondeo (Apr 9, 2010)

ctenidae said:


> 1783 is "Modern" world history. In my round 2 College career, had to take it again. One of teh students asked why the book started at 1783, and the proff wasn't sure. Being the smart ass I am, I had to chime in- US constitution, French Revolution, the beginning of the rule of law, government on paper, relatively important elements of the modern world. I slept through the rest of the semester.


Wait...there's college level history classes?


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## Hawkshot99 (Apr 9, 2010)

You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %


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## BeanoNYC (Apr 9, 2010)

severine said:


> Wouldn't have mattered. Unless you're taking a college course specifically dealing with it, most schools never get past WWI; history apparently doesn't exist after that.



The course I teach starts with U.S. Imperialism and ends with the Obama Administration.


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## severine (Apr 9, 2010)

BeanoNYC said:


> The course I teach starts with U.S. Imperialism and ends with the Obama Administration.


It's been 15 years, I'll give you that... but I hear the same thing from freshman and sophomores at school who are traditional students. I can absolutely see the value in focusing on the newer rather than the older information, though. Obviously more useful in the long run.


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## riverc0il (Apr 9, 2010)

BeanoNYC said:


> The course I teach starts with U.S. Imperialism and ends with the Obama Administration.


That is great that there is that option. As severine noted, I had the same high school history experience in which the education stopped shortly after World War II. We might have covered up to the 1950s or so at best and rushing to do so. Anything I learned about the VAST amount of important history that followed, I learned on my own. I still consider the 1970s to be the decade of US history I know the least about from a history textbook perspective, excepting the evolution of pop/funk music through that time period.


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## snowmonster (Apr 9, 2010)

100% and I never took a course in American History or civics.


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## mondeo (Apr 10, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> That is great that there is that option. As severine noted, I had the same high school history experience in which the education stopped shortly after World War II. We might have covered up to the 1950s or so at best and rushing to do so. Anything I learned about the VAST amount of important history that followed, I learned on my own. I still consider the 1970s to be the decade of US history I know the least about from a history textbook perspective, excepting the evolution of pop/funk music through that time period.


That's just a failure to stay on schedule, nothing to do with how the curriculum was set. Your teacher should've been fired.

Oh wait, can't do that.

I know at least for NYS while I was going through, history covered from the Colonies up to pretty much current events. You didn't cover that much material, your goose was cooked for the Regents. Up to the teacher to keep the class on schedule.

College is a different story. Professor can pretty much teach whatever they want, how they want. Yeah there's accreditation, but that's more of just making sure there is education going on, not all that specific to what. Any basic history, civics, econ,etc. should be covered in high schools, anyways. College is there to teach skills needed for a career, not to better you overall as a person. College history classes shouldn't cover more than probably 25-50 years for American History, post-revolution. 1776-1828, 1828-1856, 1856-1872, 1872-1912, 1912-1932, 1928-1946, 1946-1975, 1965-2000. That type of interval. Any more and you're not going in depth enough to actually provide benefit to anyone who paid a modicum of attention in history during high school; maybe as a survey class, nothing more.


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## BeanoNYC (Apr 10, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> That is great that there is that option. As severine noted, I had the same high school history experience in which the education stopped shortly after World War II. We might have covered up to the 1950s or so at best and rushing to do so. Anything I learned about the VAST amount of important history that followed, I learned on my own. I still consider the 1970s to be the decade of US history I know the least about from a history textbook perspective, excepting the evolution of pop/funk music through that time period.



To be honest, the textbook covers up to Reagan.  We took it upon ourselves to create the curriculum for everything past that.  In addition we added a unit called the History of U.S. involvement in the Middle East.  We take a step back from the chronological order we usually go by and give a comprehensive overview from the Barbary Wars up until 9/11.  We felt it was important for the students to get an academic and objective view of this.  9/11 is still the toughest to teach.  Although I can give an eye witness account as someone who was working in Manhattan that day, I have to walk on eggshells when describing the events.  One year I had 7 students who lost a parent in the WTC.  

Getting back to the current curriculum, I will finalize in the next few weeks what I want them to know about the Obama administration.  Obviously the overhaul of Healthcare and reduction of Nuclear arms are at the top of the list.


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## riverc0il (Apr 10, 2010)

BeanoNYC said:


> Getting back to the current curriculum, I will finalize in the next few weeks what I want them to know about the Obama administration.  Obviously the overhaul of Healthcare and reduction of Nuclear arms are at the top of the list.


Can a current event that happened in the past year be taught as history? Doesn't history require some distance to best be objective and put events in perspective and get all the different takes and aspects and information on to the table? Just curious. I do think that is great that students are getting an education right up to the present because I missed out on that.


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## KevinF (Apr 10, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> Such as Question 8 about the Supreme Court in which the correct answers to me read that the President can just appoint justices any time he wants when the Court disagrees with them whereas you need to await a vacancy.



Not true.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it state the Supreme Court will have 9 justices.  FDR wanted to add 10 more justices to the Supreme Court (so that he would always have a majority), but Congress -- who needs to confirm any Supreme Court appointees -- prevented it.


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## BeanoNYC (Apr 10, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> Can a current event that happened in the past year be taught as history?



I guess this is a question of semantics.  Maybe Social Studies would be a better suited term?  Either way....these kids are not going to learn about these things in Physics class so I guess my classroom is where the buck stops.  

I try to be as objective as possible when teaching current events.  I refuse to tell my students my political beliefs or opinions on anything current.  I just give an objective overview of the topics and let them argue it in class.  Basically I light the fire and take cover from the explosion.  I always tell them that they are old enough to come up with their own opinions and I refuse to influence that.  

I just registered all my students (185 of them) to vote...exciting stuff for them.


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## Marc (Apr 12, 2010)

KevinF said:


> Not true.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it state the Supreme Court will have 9 justices.  FDR wanted to add 10 more justices to the Supreme Court (so that he would always have a majority), but Congress -- who needs to confirm any Supreme Court appointees -- prevented it.



Mm... actually I think Congress sets the size of the court through legislation, which is why FDR tried to change the size by introducing new legislation, not simply by appointing more justices.


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## Paul (Apr 13, 2010)

You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %


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## jaywbigred (Apr 14, 2010)

I was an American Studies and English double major.

"You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %

Average score for this quiz during April: 74.7%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.

You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.

Where to from here?

Answers to Your Missed Questions:

Question #7 - D. Gettysburg Address
Question #10 - C. Religion
Question #12 - B. the Supreme Court struck down most legal restrictions on it in Roe v. Wade
Question #33 - D. tax per person equals government spending per person"

Funny that other than #7, which a lot of people seemed to have missed, the other 3 were all related to my educational background in some way. The problem is the word "person." Not all "persons" are taxpayers. What do they mean by person? Humans? Citizens? To me, the better answer is A), though it should say "for that year," and is still not a great answer unless you added "More likely to be" before the word zero. 

#10 - Had that narrowed to 2, had the right answer, 2nd guessed myself.
#12 - poorly worded question in my opinion, I'm almost positive that D is true to some extent, and for B to be the right answer, it relies on a subjective opinion of what the word "most" means. Also, without cheating, I thought there was a possibility that A was true, depending on a reading of the word "most," again.


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