Comments on: Freedom from Responsibility Preview part Deux

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:22:19 +0000

Peter, you think they have any hope of knowing WHY Washington was our first president when they don’t even know his name?

By: PeterLemonjelo

PeterLemonjelo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:03:25 +0000

I am struggling to see the connection between knowing who the first president was and a strong democracy? By that logic everyone should be required to know all of the presidents in order to be a citizen. Knowing WHY he was the first president and WHY we have a president and not a monarchy IS important to our strong democracy. Facts and dates never have and never will make for a strong democracy – critical thinking and problem solving ALWAYS will.

By: matthewladner

matthewladner — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:29:46 +0000

Dennis-

We don’t expect CNN Headline News to teach kids civics, we expect schools to do it. As it happens, it looks like you might learn almost as much about American history and government by watching Entertainment Tonight as taking high school civics.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:09:22 +0000

Oh, wait. Just re-read this. Ok, so 42% can name the 3 branches, 58% can’t. My mistake. Go…us?

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:07:26 +0000

Objection, your honor. Attorney Buck has introduced new evidence that was not disclosed to the defense or this court. I ask that Mr. Buck’s last statement concerning the 3 branches of government be stricken form the record. Let the record show that Mr. Buck’s original claim was based upon the ability to name Supreme Court Justices.

(I agree, naming the 3 branches isn’t really a proxy, but most of the things we are actually talking about are. Unless you really think we should encourage people to know useless trivia, in which case you can call name recognition of Alito a real outcome measure of something people ought to know. As far as I’m concerned, if a high schooler graduates knowing who John Marshall is then we’ve accomplished plenty. And you know what? 58% knowing the 3 branches seems high to me. Go us!)

By: Dennis Fermoyle

Dennis Fermoyle — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:46:09 +0000

Why should those students care about that stuff? Do we, as a society, really think it’s important? Turn on the TV “news channels” today, and what do you see? Anything about the health care debate? No. Anything about the climate control bill in Congress? No. Anything about what’s going on in Iraq or Afghanistan? Forget it. All they are covering–and I do mean all–is the death of Michael Jackson. Has there been any recent news about his death today? No. But we have to see interviews with Jackson’s so-called friends, fans, shrinks, etc., etc., etc.. Every aspect of his life and death are being analyzed, re-analyzed, and re-analyzed again. When I turn on my computer I go immediately to Dell Portal. Here are their two top headlines:

Jackson also left legacy as cultural phenomenon

Chopra: Drug concerns with Jackson since 2005

The guy was a pop singer for crying out loud. It’s very tough for schools to get kids to learn and retain information about social studies topics when our society tells them in so many ways that none of it really matters. Entertainment and celebrity is what is important in this country, and to hell with everything else. Ask those same kids questions about rock stars, movie stars, and TV and I guarantee you that you’ll get a very different outcome.

By: Stuart Buck

Stuart Buck — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:25:12 +0000

So the fact that 58% of Americans can’t name the three branches of government is just supposed to be a proxy for their lack of knowledge about something else (which is what?), but it’s not a good proxy because why? I don’t get it.

By: The know-nothing party - Online Education in America

The know-nothing party - Online Education in America — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:03:43 +0000

[...] at June 27th, 2009 / // To become a citizen, immigrants must answer six of 10 basic civics questions, such as: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? What do we call the first 10 amendments to the [...]

By: The know-nothing party at Joanne Jacobs

The know-nothing party at Joanne Jacobs — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:53:06 +0000

[...] become a citizen, immigrants must answer six of 10 basic civics questions, such as: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? What do we call the first 10 amendments to the [...]

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:22:56 +0000

Sounds to me like classic literature did just fine. 77% of Americans are familiar with the work of the Brothers Grimm from the late 1700s. Impressive, right? And maybe if Homer had come up with a better story his work would be represented by a good Disney flick instead of a minivan.

Seriously, though, I’m skeptical of most of these measures we are talking about. It doesn’t matter if anyone knows the justice’s names. It might make elitist trivia nerds feel special to be able to name them, but when it comes to good citizenship I think we have to remember that these knowledge “tests” are using proxy outcomes. We assume that not knowing Alito’s name is evidence of wide knowledge gaps about real important things. I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong, I think people ought to know a bit more than they do, but these are loaded polls. And besides, you can learn almost everything you need to know about American politics by watching the Simpsons.