75 Percent of OK High School Students can't name the first POTUS

[syrillus]

Text

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.

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

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

"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

There's a breakdown of percentages of students that answered correctly for each question if you follow the link. I must say I was a bit shocked, even though some of the questions are a bit vague. I'd say I weep for the children, but is it partly their fault? Are students as a whole just not interested in school anymore? Is the rise of technology and "connectivity to the cloud" distracting children (and people in general) from learning?

 

[Moonbeam]

What is a POTUS, some sort of large river mammal?

 

[yllus]

A great little bit of trivia to store up there in your head for the one occasion every five years the question comes up in Trivial Pursuit.

I loved history classes myself and think it's important to understand the formation of one's country, but sensationalist articles like this always miss the point. Why are American schools lagging? One big reason I can identify is the relatively short school day with the huge summer break in the year. Give students more time in the classroom and you'll be able to fit more into the curriculum. Otherwise I don't wholly fault students or their teachers for not having trivia like this retained.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Looks like more than a few children got 'left behind'. What are doing to fix this?

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: yllus
A great little bit of trivia to store up there in your head for the one occasion every five years the question comes up in Trivial Pursuit.

I loved history classes myself and think it's important to understand the formation of one's country, but sensationalist articles like this always miss the point. Why are American schools lagging? One big reason I can identify is the relatively short school day with the huge summer break in the year. Give students more time in the classroom and you'll be able to fit more into the curriculum. Otherwise I don't wholly fault students or their teachers for not having trivia like this retained.

You really think that? Teachers get in trouble if students don't pass the placement tests. Take a wild guess what they prepare for all year.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Stuff like this is the least of our worries. You can't google critical thinking.

 

[yllus]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: yllus
A great little bit of trivia to store up there in your head for the one occasion every five years the question comes up in Trivial Pursuit.

I loved history classes myself and think it's important to understand the formation of one's country, but sensationalist articles like this always miss the point. Why are American schools lagging? One big reason I can identify is the relatively short school day with the huge summer break in the year. Give students more time in the classroom and you'll be able to fit more into the curriculum. Otherwise I don't wholly fault students or their teachers for not having trivia like this retained.

You really think that? Teachers get in trouble if students don't pass the placement tests. Take a wild guess what they prepare for all year.

Even worse! But I will press on with a major point anyways.

Enough time spent in school? (PDF)

Meanwhile, the U.S. ranks low for instructional hours when compared with other countries.

Most instructional hours

Korea 1,078
Austria 999
Belgium 973
Iceland 959

Least instructional hours

Norway 810
Greece 807
U.S. 799
Mexico 577

 

[BigDH01]

Originally posted by: syrillus
Text

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.

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

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

"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

There's a breakdown of percentages of students that answered correctly for each question if you follow the link. I must say I was a bit shocked, even though some of the questions are a bit vague. I'd say I weep for the children, but is it partly their fault? Are students as a whole just not interested in school anymore? Is the rise of technology and "connectivity to the cloud" distracting children (and people in general) from learning?

I think the students just don't care. You can't create a society where our prime directive is earning profit/producing wealth/being consumers and then be surprised that the individuals in that society don't know facts that are not valuable in that pursuit. At least interacting with social websites and communities familiarizes them with technology that might be useful and provide some valuable skills.

I'm more surprised that people don't have basic math skills. These are useful in simple day-to-day living. However, I know a lot of engineers that never use the math they learned in school, either by career or because of technology. Maybe these skills just really aren't that useful.

Also,

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

Another example perhaps?

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: BigDH01
I think the students just don't care.

I think students know the first President, just don't care about these surveys. I remember one survey we were forced to take back when I was in highschool on drug & alcohol use, and we all just fucked around with it.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: cubby1223

Originally posted by: BigDH01
I think the students just don't care.

I think students know the first President, just don't care about these surveys. I remember one survey we were forced to take back when I was in highschool on drug & alcohol use, and we all just fucked around with it.

Yeah we all said we used heroin and stuff. I wonder if anyone ever freaked out.

 

[ElFenix]

samuel huntington? john hanson?

 

[jonks]

Topic: 75 Percent of OK High School Students can't name the first POTUS

doesn't sound like they're OK to me.

http://www.instantrimshot.com/

 

[Zedtom]

What percentage of adults in a corporate office cube farm can tell you the name of their congressperson?

 

[Leon]

John Hanson, the President under Articles of Confederation.

 

[Xellos2099]

Increase the length of school days won't matter too much to me imo. How about it is because school teach useless classes and information. Like one of the poster said earlier, workforce use less than 25% of what they learn in college, so why waste time and money on unless thing?

O and I absolutely hate survey.

 

[Moonbeam]

The chimpanzees on P & N talking about how kids don't know anything. That's a laugh.

 

[miketheidiot]

pretty pathetic

you should know more than the basics of doing your job, that is absolutely not an excuse.

 

[BigDH01]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
pretty pathetic

you should know more than the basics of doing your job, that is absolutely not an excuse.

Why should I know more than what assists my ability to make money?

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: BigDH01

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
pretty pathetic

you should know more than the basics of doing your job, that is absolutely not an excuse.

Why should I know more than what assists my ability to make money?

Because you presumably vote? (among a million other reasons)

I've never understood the desire to be willfully ignorant.

 

[BigDH01]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: BigDH01

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
pretty pathetic

you should know more than the basics of doing your job, that is absolutely not an excuse.

Why should I know more than what assists my ability to make money?

Because you presumably vote? (among a million other reasons)

I've never understood the desire to be willfully ignorant.

For the average citizen, does voting necessarily equate to more money?

You may not understand the desire to be willfully ignorant, but that's not an argument that someone should know something that won't assist them in making money.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: BigDH01


For the average citizen, does voting necessarily equate to more money?

You may not understand the desire to be willfully ignorant, but that's not an argument that someone should know something that won't assist them in making money.

They set your taxes at the local, state, city, federal level. They have a direct impact on how much money you make. Talk about being willfully ignorant.

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: BigDH01

Originally posted by: syrillus
Text

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.

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

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

"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

There's a breakdown of percentages of students that answered correctly for each question if you follow the link. I must say I was a bit shocked, even though some of the questions are a bit vague. I'd say I weep for the children, but is it partly their fault? Are students as a whole just not interested in school anymore? Is the rise of technology and "connectivity to the cloud" distracting children (and people in general) from learning?

I think the students just don't care. You can't create a society where our prime directive is earning profit/producing wealth/being consumers and then be surprised that the individuals in that society don't know facts that are not valuable in that pursuit. At least interacting with social websites and communities familiarizes them with technology that might be useful and provide some valuable skills.

I'm more surprised that people don't have basic math skills. These are useful in simple day-to-day living. However, I know a lot of engineers that never use the math they learned in school, either by career or because of technology. Maybe these skills just really aren't that useful.

Also,

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

Another example perhaps?

assess

 

[BigDH01]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: BigDH01


For the average citizen, does voting necessarily equate to more money?

You may not understand the desire to be willfully ignorant, but that's not an argument that someone should know something that won't assist them in making money.

They set your taxes at the local, state, city, federal level. They have a direct impact on how much money you make. Talk about being willfully ignorant.

Dismissing the ad hominem...

One would quickly recognize that the value of a single vote is actually quite small, which leads to a situation where few people internalize the value of voting. There are many studies about this. You can view a cursory study here. Although this study specifically examines Canadian patterns, it finds that people tend to vote more out of value than interest. The fact that few Americans actually vote (especially in local elections) indicates that people see little value in their votes. And this is understandable.

My voice is simply one among many. My statement "For the average citizen, does voting necessarily equate to more money?" is a serious question. There is no guarantee that my vote translate into a win. If my candidate wins, the odds that they win by my vote is extremely low. There's also the problem that candidates often don't fulfill campaign promises. There's a huge science behind the value of a single vote, but the bottom line is that many people don't view it as valuable. It's a classic problem of the value of an individual among the aggregate. As an aggregate payoff, voting holds promise. As an individual, the payoff from voting is likely very little, if anything at all.

Interestingly enough, that paper also discusses studies regarding education.

The results of two recent studies in the academic domain,
however, also found that identification promoted
superior adaptation relative to intrinsic motivation
(Koestner, Losier, Fichman,&Mallet, 1998). The studies
were designed to examine how academic self-regulation
would influence students? transition to graduation.
High school and college students? academic selfregulation
was assessed shortly prior to graduation.
Grade point average (GPA) and level of psychological
distress were also assessed. Six months to 1 year after
graduation, the students again completed measures of
psychological distress. The results showed that identified
regulation but not intrinsic motivation was significantly
related to lower levels of distress at follow-up. This relation
controlled for initial GPA and distress levels and was
not influenced by whether students continued their education
or began working. To ensure successful adaptation,
it appeared to be critical that adolescents not only
view their school work as interesting and enjoyable but
that they also come to view it as personally important and
consistent with their values and goals.

Students simply won't take their studies seriously unless they view them as valuable. If knowing political history can't be translated into value, why should they learn it?

 

[BigDH01]

Originally posted by: ManyBeers

Originally posted by: BigDH01

Originally posted by: syrillus
Text

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.

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

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

"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

There's a breakdown of percentages of students that answered correctly for each question if you follow the link. I must say I was a bit shocked, even though some of the questions are a bit vague. I'd say I weep for the children, but is it partly their fault? Are students as a whole just not interested in school anymore? Is the rise of technology and "connectivity to the cloud" distracting children (and people in general) from learning?

I think the students just don't care. You can't create a society where our prime directive is earning profit/producing wealth/being consumers and then be surprised that the individuals in that society don't know facts that are not valuable in that pursuit. At least interacting with social websites and communities familiarizes them with technology that might be useful and provide some valuable skills.

I'm more surprised that people don't have basic math skills. These are useful in simple day-to-day living. However, I know a lot of engineers that never use the math they learned in school, either by career or because of technology. Maybe these skills just really aren't that useful.

Also,

The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.

Another example perhaps?

assess

:beer:

Winner .

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: BigDH01

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: BigDH01


For the average citizen, does voting necessarily equate to more money?

You may not understand the desire to be willfully ignorant, but that's not an argument that someone should know something that won't assist them in making money.

They set your taxes at the local, state, city, federal level. They have a direct impact on how much money you make. Talk about being willfully ignorant.

Dismissing the ad hominem...

blahblahblahblah.................

I would read your post, but it won't help me make more money.