According to the ISI, the vast majority -- about 70 percent of those who took the test --flunked the 33-question, multiple-choice civic literacy quiz touching on American history and its institutions. The national average score stands at 49 percent, a good solid F. And considering the multiple choice questions carry five possible options, a chimpanzee could score 20 percent just by blindly selecting answers.
These questions are pretty basic, too. Things like which inalienable rights are mentioned in the Declaration Of Independence, or what the three branches of government are. Hey, it's not like it's a test on nuclear physics written in Russian.
What I find interesting is how broad-based the failure went. It doesn't seem to matter much where you went to school -- Harvard seniors scored 69.56 percent on the test, a D-plus. Doesn't even really matter whether you went to college; there was little difference in the percentages there, and as any teacher will tell you, an F is an F.
While only 21 percent could recognize an Abraham Lincoln phrase from the Gettysburg Address, 56 percent could tell you Paula Abdul is a judge on American Idol. This tells you a lot about our education system, but says even more about how people think (and this may become the basis for a future diatribe in this space).
Also interesting: Elected officials did even more poorly on the test than the general public. This bears out my suspicion that so few elected types know so little about our Constitution and laws. Maybe some of those aforementioned chimpanzees were elected to public office and we just didn't know it.
All of this is very interesting and makes good water-cooler debate, but so what? And why is it important to know this stuff anyway?
Even the best human govermnents are not all that trustworthy, or efficient. Even the best-hearted officials will forget the people who voted them in office and start following their own agendas. Human nature is just like that. And we, among the masses, have precious few weapons to shortstop this process, to hold our leaders accountable. The best weapon is information, and a good working knowledge of how our government operates is a real good start.
Those without the knowledge of how our country works are more likely to believe any ol' promise that comes down the pike, especially if it sounds good. Without this knowledge, folks are more likely to become mindless sheep instead of citizens, and at some point sheep will get what is usually expected at the hands of slick politicians -- sheared.
OK. That covers the civics. Now what about knowing our country's history?
Now, this is a funny thing. History was not among my strongest subjects in school (I did best at recess, lunch, and going home). And even the history as presented in school was so dry, detached, and meant nothing in my world. Who wants to read about a bunch of dead guys in powdered wigs anyway?
As I've gotten older, I've become more interested. In journalism, I began to realize how important the background issues are in researching and writing a story. And living in history-laden Charleston made much of the stuff I managed to learn in grade school come alive. It's one thing to read about, say, Fort Sumter in your third-grade textbook. It's another to set foot in the fort, climb those same walls, to get the lay of the land.
Now, much of my recreational reading comes from the historical and biographical stacks -- I'm currently reading two; "American Caesar" about Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and "Telsa, Man Out Of Time" about the scientist/inventor.
Write this down: The more you know about the past, the more you'll know about the future.
History does repeat itself. Although the stage props will change with each new era, there truly is nothing new under the sun. Humans are still humans after all, and even with new props they'll still face the same core issues over and over again, and even with the new props they'll still go to the tried-and-hopefully-true to solve those human problems. A year ago, I posted a blog based on 13 American arguments, and what's so interesting is that these arguments were, with few exceptions, just as volatile in colonial times as they are now. They're just as meaningful as when man came into being and started to get organized.
The names change, the props change, but the core stuff remains the same.
But as far as predicting the future?
Here's an example: A good handle on the history of the Great Depression of the 1930s will give you a good look at how our leaders will try to solve our current economic crisis. And another example: I'm able to tell the folks in my neck of the woods about our immigration problems here, because I've seen it 25 years ago in California.
Out there, it's called history. In the southeast, it's called current events.
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Personal footnote: I took the test a few minutes before posting this entry. Got 29 of the 33 correct, for a score of 87.88. The five I missed were more in the economic realm, something in which I've never claimed to be a rocket scientist.
The national average score for November was 77.9 percent.
Test yourself: Here is a link to the quiz. How did you do?
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