John Pieret took the American Civil In his posting, Flunking At Being American, he reports that he scored 32/33 or 96.97%. Impressive.
He then asks, "I would be interested to know how non-US citizens score on the test."
Ask, and you shall receive. Here's my result.
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %I didn't know which amendment was which, and what the Bill of Rights specifically prohibited. I'm too embarrassed to reveal the third question I got wrong.
Average score for this quiz during January: 74.2%
Average score: 74.2%
You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.
Here's one I got right.
27) Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:I got it right by thinking like an American! (Ouch!) ;-)
A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
B. markets rely upon coercion, whereas government relies upon voluntary compliance with the law
C. more tax revenue can be generated from free enterprise
D. property rights and contracts are best enforced by the market system
E. government planners are too cautious in spending taxpayers’ money
It's a very strange "civil
I thought it was "civic literacy", which is not quite the same thing. But yeah: that's one question that assumes its premise.
ReplyDelete"You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 % (Average score: 74.2%)"
ReplyDeleteRather impressed, considering that I know absolutely nothing about economics.
I'm surprised that I got #7 wrong though. :-/
Is it un-American to advocate socialist policies?
ReplyDeleteYes.
"You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 % (Average score: 74.2%)"
ReplyDeleteNot bad for someone who has lived in Australia for the majority of his life.
(disclaimer: I did take U.S. civics and history many years ago when I did a year of high school in the States.)
Is it un-American to advocate socialist policies?
ReplyDeleteNot if it's socialism for the rich. Otherwise: yes, of course it is!
"You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %"
ReplyDeleteI missed the one about the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
I missed the one about the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I got that one (indeed, that I've ever even heard of Douglas) is that the college my son just graduated from was the site of one of those debates, and there's a pair of big plaques commemorating the occasion. See here (scroll down to 1858 entry):
http://knox.edu/About-Knox/Our-History/History-of-Knox-1830-to-1899.html
Despite your hint I got No. 27 "wrong" -- I guess I'm too far from the US to "think like an American". 29/33 overall, though.
ReplyDeleteI only got 24/33 right, which is 72.73%. I didn't get number 27 right, nor did I correctly identify the phrases from the Gettysburg address and Thomas Jefferson's Letters.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised by the answer to number 8 - I had no idea that Roosevelt threatened to appoint more supreme court judges to help him out. Sounds like a pretty good tactic to me! :)
In the US, "socialism" is a word so loaded with emotional baggage as to be practically a swear-word. One uses it mostly to attack others by implicating them to be socialists.
ReplyDeleteOne could say that, in the US, "socialism" is a four-letter word. That would sum up our collective dumbth nicely, eh?
He and many commenters here also fail at science. Two significant digits divided by two significant digits does not equal four significant digits.
ReplyDeleteanonymous: He and many commenters here also fail at science. Two significant digits divided by two significant digits does not equal four significant digits.
ReplyDeleteSo do you: one is not "many". Did you not notice the quotation marks (or, in the case of Larry, the quotation box)?
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %
ReplyDeleteAverage score for this quiz during January: 74.2%
Average score: 74.2%
Not bad for a Brit!
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #4 - B. Would slavery be allowed to expand to new territories?
No excuse for not knowing this.
Question #10 - C. Religion
Got the First and Second Amendment confused!
Question #11 - A. their arguments helped lead to the adoption of the Bill of Rights
Similarly no excuse here. Need to brush up on US history...
How about this for interesting debating point or thesis question:
"Was the American Revolution on balance a force for good?"
All those great ideals versus a larger Canada and Mexico and perhaps a more peaceful world...
Being provocative here ;-)
Anonymous: "He and many commenters here also fail at science. Two significant digits divided by two significant digits does not equal four significant digits."
ReplyDeleteHuh? Except we're dealing with exact values. As far as I know, it's not possible to get a fraction of a question right on this quiz (I haven't taken it) so 28 out of 33 is *exactly* 28 out of *exactly* 33. Or 28.00 out of 33.00 (add as many zeroes as you like). Or should 30 out of 33 be recorded with only 1 sig fig?
30 out of 33 for me too. Not too bad for an Irish Swede.
ReplyDeleteI got the federalist one wrong and I forget the other two.
30/33
ReplyDeleteThe wrong ones:
#4 - slavery expand to new territories?
#11 - the adoption of the Bill of Rights
And one of the economics ones
28 out of 33,
ReplyDeletemissing the specific American history, as a non-American
I got all economic questions by realizing unswerving attachment to
kapitalism might pass for literacy.
Yeah, question 27 was bullshit. The others were okay.
ReplyDeleteYou only got 75%, Larry? I got something like 97%, having lived all my life in Spain. I got the answers for the historical questions from my high-school history lessons, and the answers for the legal and constituational questions form reading "Dispatches from the Culture Wars". The questions were incredibly easy, which makes the low average score very worrying indeed.