Okay, can we at least agree that these Newsweek poll results are at least a cause for concern (if not, necessarily, signifying that us Americans are dumb as dirt, per se)? I mean honestly, only 10% know who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is (note, Newsweek does not know what his title is either)… rather scary.
only 10% know who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is… Rather scary.
Why? The Supreme Court is not an elective job. There is absolutely no reason why the average person needs to know who he is.
Much of the knowledge required on this quiz was esoteric. Most of it had very little impact on the average American’s life.
You have to remember the average American possesses a high school level education or less.
There are indeed large numbers of intelligensia who could have answered each question right, but have no common sense or an idea of what life is like for the average American.
I agree that some of the things people don’t know are troubling. But, really, a lot of what people don’t seem to know isn’t terribly upsetting to me–the political parties of past Presidents, for instance, given that the political parties in the past often had substantially different platforms than they do today, even if they had the same name. Similarly, not knowing which country doesn’t border Iraq isn’t terribly troubling to me given that the list of countries to pick from are all roughly in the region (yes, Libya’s in Africa, not on Asia Minor, but it’s one country away from bordering Asia Minor). It’s like if people weren’t given a blank political map to look at and had a hard time picking the state among KS, NE, MO, and SD that doesn’t border IA. I would be worried if we replaced KS with FL and people still got it wrong, much as I’d be more concerned if we replaced Libya with Kenya and people still got it wrong. And in your daily life, does it matter more whether you know who is chairman of the federal reserve, or if you know what the federal reserve does?
Also, I disagree with their global warming question. There are a number of astrophysicists currently arguing that solar output is higher now than it was in certain prehistoric periods, and that this is a contribution to global warming. The 17% of people who picked that as the factor which doesn’t contribute to global warming are not necessarily correct either.
I mean honestly, only 10% know who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is… rather scary.
As long as we’re criticizing people for not knowing things, I feel it is my duty as a fellow nerd to point out that there is no such thing as a “Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.” There is a Chief Justice of the United States, and he serves on the Supreme Court (and his name is John Roberts), but his title is decidedly not “Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.” :)
Well, the official job title is Chief Justice of the United States, not Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court or Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
See, that’s what I was remembering too… But made the faulty decision to trust Newsweek’s fact checkers instead of my own recollection. I really should know better than to trust them… I mean given Brendan’s simple problems of just trying to get his name spelled correctly. Clearly I should have known better, and regret the error.
The official answer to “Is America Losing the War on Terror” is “No?” Who the hell made this polling company the Boss of All of Us? It’s kind of a subjective call at this point, isn’t it?
Overall, though, I think this poll indicates people are actually smarter than I would give them credit for, given we don’t teach civics or history in our schools anymore because of “No Child Left Behind.”
. . . we don’t teach civics or history in our schools anymore because of “No Child Left Behind.â€
The following is sure to draw cries of “Bush loyalist” from all the BDSers, but . . .
I question the wisdom and efficacy of the NCLB Act as much as the next guy, but using it as an excuse for the lack of knowledge in civics and history in public schools is a bit silly. My guess is that if you compared students’ overall performance in those subjects before and after that law was passed, you’d see little if any difference (I open to being proven wrong, of course).
If Joe Mama read actual newspapers instead of getting his information from Fox News, he would know that Civics, History, etc, have been getting crowded out of school lesson plans in favor of Test Prep for Reading and Math (the main areas of focus for NCLB). I have actually worked on NCLB, so I know what I have talking about.
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June 25th, 2007 at 3:16:04 pm
only 10% know who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is… Rather scary.
Why? The Supreme Court is not an elective job. There is absolutely no reason why the average person needs to know who he is.
Much of the knowledge required on this quiz was esoteric. Most of it had very little impact on the average American’s life.
You have to remember the average American possesses a high school level education or less.
There are indeed large numbers of intelligensia who could have answered each question right, but have no common sense or an idea of what life is like for the average American.
Given this news:
http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2007/06/were-generous-country.html
I say we cut the American people some slack.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:16:57 pm
In the poll, Jane Austen’s last name was misspelled.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:39:35 pm
How the hell did they decide the “correct answer” to number 5?
June 25th, 2007 at 3:42:23 pm
I agree that some of the things people don’t know are troubling. But, really, a lot of what people don’t seem to know isn’t terribly upsetting to me–the political parties of past Presidents, for instance, given that the political parties in the past often had substantially different platforms than they do today, even if they had the same name. Similarly, not knowing which country doesn’t border Iraq isn’t terribly troubling to me given that the list of countries to pick from are all roughly in the region (yes, Libya’s in Africa, not on Asia Minor, but it’s one country away from bordering Asia Minor). It’s like if people weren’t given a blank political map to look at and had a hard time picking the state among KS, NE, MO, and SD that doesn’t border IA. I would be worried if we replaced KS with FL and people still got it wrong, much as I’d be more concerned if we replaced Libya with Kenya and people still got it wrong. And in your daily life, does it matter more whether you know who is chairman of the federal reserve, or if you know what the federal reserve does?
Also, I disagree with their global warming question. There are a number of astrophysicists currently arguing that solar output is higher now than it was in certain prehistoric periods, and that this is a contribution to global warming. The 17% of people who picked that as the factor which doesn’t contribute to global warming are not necessarily correct either.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:02:36 pm
I mean honestly, only 10% know who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is… rather scary.
As long as we’re criticizing people for not knowing things, I feel it is my duty as a fellow nerd to point out that there is no such thing as a “Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.” There is a Chief Justice of the United States, and he serves on the Supreme Court (and his name is John Roberts), but his title is decidedly not “Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.” :)
June 25th, 2007 at 4:03:03 pm
Well, the official job title is Chief Justice of the United States, not Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court or Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
That’s for starters.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:03:54 pm
Dangit, Brendan. You saw that I was about to post that, didn’t you? That’s why I got an error popup when I tried to comment.
Grr.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:14:05 pm
See, that’s what I was remembering too… But made the faulty decision to trust Newsweek’s fact checkers instead of my own recollection. I really should know better than to trust them… I mean given Brendan’s simple problems of just trying to get his name spelled correctly. Clearly I should have known better, and regret the error.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:59:23 pm
The official answer to “Is America Losing the War on Terror” is “No?” Who the hell made this polling company the Boss of All of Us? It’s kind of a subjective call at this point, isn’t it?
Overall, though, I think this poll indicates people are actually smarter than I would give them credit for, given we don’t teach civics or history in our schools anymore because of “No Child Left Behind.”
June 25th, 2007 at 5:55:08 pm
The Chief Justice nomenclature is quite the “gotcha!” if you ask me. Then again, I speak in the presence of lawyers/clerks.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:58:55 pm
#5 almost HAS to be a mistake. They probably just highlighted something by mistake? Right? ….Right?
June 25th, 2007 at 9:25:45 pm
. . . we don’t teach civics or history in our schools anymore because of “No Child Left Behind.â€
The following is sure to draw cries of “Bush loyalist” from all the BDSers, but . . .
I question the wisdom and efficacy of the NCLB Act as much as the next guy, but using it as an excuse for the lack of knowledge in civics and history in public schools is a bit silly. My guess is that if you compared students’ overall performance in those subjects before and after that law was passed, you’d see little if any difference (I open to being proven wrong, of course).
June 25th, 2007 at 9:27:43 pm
Defending NCLB? You Ted Kennedy loyalist!!
;)
June 25th, 2007 at 10:53:28 pm
Angier and Angrier’s head just exploded.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:34:55 am
If Joe Mama read actual newspapers instead of getting his information from Fox News, he would know that Civics, History, etc, have been getting crowded out of school lesson plans in favor of Test Prep for Reading and Math (the main areas of focus for NCLB). I have actually worked on NCLB, so I know what I have talking about.