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Political Science Prof Finds Students Don’t Know Much About U.S. Government


Monte1076

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10 minutes ago, Monte1076 said:

A lot of college students think socialism and communism are good things.  I guess with the commies infiltrating the universities decades ago, this isn't surprising.

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12 minutes ago, BarryLaverty said:

199 Broad Brush Photos - Free & Royalty-Free Stock Photos from DreamstimeIsn't that your normal response? 

Yep.

But I do it as a teaching opportunity. You don't like being lumped in with certain groups, do you? Yet you constantly broad brush. Perhaps there's a lesson there.

And here are excerpts from the article:

Quote

I decided the best way to measure my students’ understanding of the American government was to issue two assignments. On the first day of class, I give my students a citizenship exam asking very basic questions about our founding and our system of governance. Some of the questions include:

Who is the Speaker of the House?
Which branch of government has the power to declare war?
Who is considered the father of the Constitution?
How many Supreme Court Justices are there?
What safeguard is in place to prevent one branch of government from becoming much more powerful than the other branches?
All of the following are guaranteed rights under the First Amendment, except?

The overwhelming majority of students fail the exam. After twelve years of administering this exam, only 348 students have passed out of 2,176. A shameful indictment of our K-12 education system.

Sadly, this semester is no different. The pass rate for the test is 70%. Out of the approximately 175 students, only 11 of them were able to pass the exam.

For the second assignment, I provide them with Chapter 1 of the Russian Constitution, replacing Russian Federation with the United States, and Duma with Congress. It is important to note that the Russian Constitution, crafted in 1993, begins with “We the multinational people…,” and that Chapter 1 consists of 16 Articles.

Students are asked to provide a one-paragraph written response sharing their thoughts on this constitution. Realistically, their response should be one sentence: this is not the United States Constitution.

Instead, many will write how they never actually read the U.S. Constitution, which is horrifying given the number of years they have attended school prior to taking my course. Others will reference Article 7 where it explains “…guaranteed minimum wages and salaries shall be established, state support ensured to the family, maternity, paternity and childhood, to disabled persons and the elderly, the system of social services developed, state pensions, allowances and other social security guarantees shall be established,” and praise the foresight of the founding fathers.

After the exercises, I begin to probe the students in an effort to understand how it’s gotten this bad. The overwhelming majority of students state that throughout their K-12 education, they were never required to read the U.S. Constitution. 

As an educator, it is not my role to indoctrinate them on what they should believe. Instead, it is my responsibility to assure they know how the American government operates, nurture their academic development, spark their intellectual curiosity, and get them to think critically about the issues.

348 out of2,176 is a paltry 16%.

And 11 out of 175 is 6.3%. Of course, that is one data point, but that's appalling.

If your entire class did that dismally on an exam, questions would be asked. Would they not?

Edited by Monte1076
  • SMH 1
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4 minutes ago, Monte1076 said:

Yep.

But I do it as a teaching opportunity. You don't like being lumped in with certain groups, do you? Yet you constantly broad brush.

And here are excerpts from the article:

348 out of2,176 is a paltry 16%.

And 11 out of 175 is 6.3%. Of course, that is one data point, but that's appalling.

Dimnuts don't like facts

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2 hours ago, DannyZuco said:

The overwhelming majority of students fail the exam. After twelve years of administering this exam, only 348 students have passed out of 2,176. A shameful indictment of our K-12 education system.

 

Those 348 students were mine.......:rofl:

Ironically my daughter said the same thing.

:rofl: 

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