How well do you score -- and no search engine "research," please

Common Core asked high school students 41 questions about the humanities. The results have shocked and appalled people -- the word "ignorant" is used to describe the kids ("Survey Finds Teenagers Ignorant on Basic History and Literature Questions," NYT, Feb 27, 08). Evidently, a quarter of American teenagers didn't know Hitler was Germany's chancellor during WWII. (There was no reportage on whether or not they thought he was merely the FTW gambit in any online argument.)

Naturally, I was curious to learn exactly how little the generation that'll be funding my social security (ha!) knew. Slate has the test in their "Hot Documents" feature ("A Depressing Survey of What High Schoolers Don't Know"). Showing a little stunning ignorance of my own, it took me until the second pass-through to realize the correct answers were starred.

I was able to answer all but one correctly. And before you all point out that I have the benefit of college on my side, let me point out: thanks to AP testing, I waltzed into Virginia Tech with my humanities, social sciences and literature requirements all but completed. My college education was left-brained in the extreme. Any liberal arts education I have, I got courtesy of living in Virginia ("400 Years of History and Counting") and reading constantly. Anyway, I biffed #24, as did 50% of kids tested. Mrs. Cantwell, I'm sorry I forgot the purpose of the Federalist papers. AP government was 19 years ago.

In any event, take a look at the questions and see how many you can answer.

Comments

[Mary-Lynn]

I missed one as well. I find that as I get older I just don't get shocked by general public ignorance and specifically that of teenagers. I mean, you've seen teenagers, right?

And they should get off my lawn, too!

Quite seriously, the educational system in American is failing its students something fierce. But then again, when you expect it to be babysitters and probation officers as well, I guess that book-learnin' isn't really something to worry so much about.

[Jecca]

I missed 24 and 33. (I have a B.A. in English but have somehow never read any Dickens.) I was surprised by how many of those answers I did actually learn in high school, too. Not all of them, but most of them. And the huge date ranges they gave for wars made it dead easy! I was thinking I'd get messed up by things like the exact date of U.S. entry into WWI vs. the dates of the conflict as a whole, but kids were missing those with a 50 year range? Wow.

[Uli]

Okay, I'm not even American - though I did get part of my college education over there - and even with the large American history skew in the questions, the Federalist papers one is the only I missed too. And again, I did my American history learnin' in high school, not college, though my BA in English did help with a few others.

Gah.

[Polly]

I got them all right, but I certainly wouldn't have in high school. I went to public school in California back in the 1980s when education got NO money, and we weren't taught much (God, it was boring).

A Tale of Two Cities is actually pretty awesome, Jecca. I used to hate Dickens because in junior high and high school they made us read "A Christmas Carol" over and over again, but A Tale of Two Cities turned me around on him.

[Julie]

I got them all, although I made a guess on the Ralph Ellison question after being able to eliminate 2 wrong answers. When I was in high school, I don't know how well I would have done on the questions about the Greeks though.

[naomi]

I got about 90% right (although some of them were wild guess), and I am 24 years old and an Australian with no American education except for Sesame Street and crappy teen shows.

[Norbert Szabó]

The education system went wrong in Europe also. I'm so depressed that the growing up generations knowledge is at a much lower lewel than it was some years ago. I don't think that teenagers got less clever. Something went wrong in the whole society.

[Michelle]

I missed the Federalist Papers too, and that was it. And despite having a BA in English, I can confidently say I learned everything I used for that test in high school.

[Ky Eliza]

I missed the Federalist papers and The Invisible Man questions. I got everything else right, and I learned all of that stuff before I left high school. Wow. Just... wow.

[Becky]

I got them all, but there were a couple (the Federalist Papers and the Dickens questions) that I only got because it was a multiple-choice test, and I could narrow it down.

American history happened to be very well-taught at my high school, so that was to my advantage on this particular test. Many other subjects, particularly world history and British literature, were poorly taught, if at all.

The Hitler question is interesting -- maybe students missed it because they didn't realize a Chancellor could end up as a dictator? I mean, some of those questions are slightly obscure, but who hasn't heard of Hitler?

[Emily]

I aced it, but majoring in political science in college was probably cheating. I'm pretty sure I would have missed the question about the Federalist Papers as a high schooler-- or at least needed to guess, anyway. But then, I didn't take American Government in high school, so I can't blame my teachers for that.

I do feel a bit guilty that, of the eight books listed as answers in question 28 and 30, I've only read one.

[phastphill]

Well, it was hard for me to ignore the stars. But I definitely missed three -- Dickens, Bible, and Whitman. Never liked fiction, religion and poetry much.

I know that several of these were learned during adulthood, the federalist papers being one.

but hold on a second:

[Common Core] describes itself as a new research and advocacy organization that will press for more teaching of the liberal arts in public schools.

The group says President Bush’s education law, No Child Left Behind, has impoverished public school curriculums by holding schools accountable for student scores on annual tests in reading and mathematics, but in no other subjects.

Knowing this, I declare the entire survey bunk. With such an obtuse agenda, they probably gave their test to high school dropouts.

[Kate]

When I took the test just now I only showed myself the question, not the answers. I missed the Federalist papers and that's it.

Still, I can't help but think that the way that the test is delivered - aurally over the telephone - would throw me for a loop. Reading it is one thing, but that would be a lot tougher for me. Kinda like how it's easier to play Jeopardy at home because you can read the question faster than hearing Alex say it.

[Lisa S.]

phastphil, I downloaded and read the entire report. They go into their methodology pretty carefully.

The organization bought a sample base of 32,000 records from Scientific Telephone Samples, then hired RMA Research to administer the test to a national sample of 17-year-olds. Although the authors say that "the population tested here included a fuller sample of the nation's 17-year-olds, as it potentially included those who dropped out of school, were suspended, or were home schooled," but they argue that this makes a more accurate assessment of a high-school-aged cohort than a test administered in school would.

I don't think the possible inclusion of high school dropouts makes the survey bunk.

[Stephanie]

I got all but 1 without even looking at the possible answers. I did remember the Federalist Papers because we prepared for it to be a DBQ on the AP test.

When I hear the periodic stories of how stupid American high schoolers are, I have a hard time taking it to heart because I hang out with a fair number of current high schoolers and they would all know the answers to most of these. Even the at-risk kid I mentored for 2 years would have gotten at least 50% right.

[Kate]

I tried it without looking at the answers and ended up getting them all right. But even though I was an engineering major in undergrad, I have an unfair advantage in that I went to law school and had to talk about the Federalist Papers and other such things in American Legal History class.