Comments on: Mourning Constitutional- OK kids score even worse than AZ

By: Claus

Claus — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:31:38 +0000

Respected statistician Nate Silver is quite convinced that this poll is either deeply flawed or downright fraudulent: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/11/real-oklahoma-students-ace-citizenship.html. I have always thought the results of this survey–and the Arizona survey–stretched credulity.

Have the raw data been made public?

By: MGTutoring.com. A Rational Perspective on Education. » Why People Need Powell History

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:01:50 +0000

[...] the blog post “Mourning Constitutional- OK kids score even worse than AZ” (Jay P. Greene’s Blog, Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 10:52 am), Mr. Greene [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:03:59 +0000

The “don’t know” responses are indicative of what is really going on. These kids don’t care about your test. Offer then $5 for a passing grade, and I guarantee the passage rates will rise. Civic education is deplorable, but your “survey” overstates the problem.

My source: I was a teenager not so long ago. Could have answered 100%. Would have blown this survey off. Actually, if you didn’t offer an incentive to pass, I would blow it off now too!

By: OK outflunks AZ on civics exam « Joanne Jacobs

OK outflunks AZ on civics exam « Joanne Jacobs — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:23:33 +0000

[...] but things get grimmer still. When high school students in Oklahoma took the exact same test, only 2.8 percent got 6 or more questions [...]

By: Civics and Sanskrit at The Core Knowledge Blog

Civics and Sanskrit at The Core Knowledge Blog — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:24:49 +0000

[...] or more questions correct on a version of the United States Citizenship Test. Matthew Ladner of Jay Greene’s blog thought that was pretty pathetic–new immigrants to the U.S. have to answer six or more [...]

By: Minnesota Kid

Minnesota Kid — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:39:52 +0000

Yes, Matt, you should be carefull not to grammar-goggle in the future.

By: Jeffery Dean

Jeffery Dean — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:44:33 +0000

And the shameful ignorance continues in higher education and adulthood:

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/

I’m not sure how much civics knowledge per se contributes to citizenship: neighborliness, basic morality, gainful employment, and paying one’s taxes do not require a knowledge of the signers of the Declaration. But civics knowledge probably is a proxy for pride in one’s country, which, taken rightly, should have all sorts of positive spillover effects, and which today we are the worse for lacking.

By: Matthewladner

Matthewladner — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:44:24 +0000

Tough crowd!

Ok fine- I’ll stop trying to write and drink Shiner Bock at the same time.

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:04:22 +0000

Thanks. M writing skills seemed to be deficient.

That is exactly what I wanted to convey.

By: Minnesota Kid

Minnesota Kid — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:55:09 +0000

I think that Larry was simply pointing out one of two typos/grammatical errors in the post. You either “gave” it to them or “surveyed” them, but it makes no sense to say that you “gave surveyed” them. Also, “they passed at a rate that was 25% than their peers in Oklahoma.” Huh?

Better fix those before your next blog about the poor writing skills of today’s children. I’m just saying…