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The errors of definitions multiply themselves according as the reckoning proceeds; and lead men into absurdities, which at last they see but cannot avoid, without reckoning anew from the beginning.

-Thomas Hobbes

Civic Ignorance

Presented for our discussion... The findings of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's National Civic Literacy Board:

A study of 14,000 college freshmen and seniors at 50 schools reveals:

* There is trivial difference between freshmen and seniors in their knowledge of America's heritage.
* 16 of 50 schools surveyed exhibited negative learning.
* Overall, seniors failed the civic literacy exam with an average score of 53%.

How do we forestall the coming crisis in citizenship?

Don't read the news. Read the full report. And here are the rankings of the 50 colleges and universities that were included in the report. Note Rhodes College and Colorado State University - they must be very proud of leading the list. Their students are able to score a full 10 points higher on the test as seniors than as freshmen. I don't think I will comment at this time on the schools whose students became more stupid after four years on campus, but I am sure others will.

Posted by Wulf on October 13, 2006 at 11:06 AM

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Uhhhh, like you, I think I'm too stunned to comment. Was this a Friday the 13th Fool's Joke?

Posted by: Rammage at October 14, 2006 12:50 PM

Which is the most frightening of the topics on which these kids are so ignorant?

I think this one ranks near the top for me:
More than half of college seniors did not know that the Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits the establishment of an official religion for the United States.

Possibly the most amusing finding:
Specifically, a 1 percent increase in civic learning as measured in our survey corresponded to a decrease of 25 positions in the U.S. News ranking.

Posted by: Wulf at October 14, 2006 1:10 PM

The errors of definitions multiply themselves according as the reckoning proceeds; and lead men into absurdities, which at last they see but cannot avoid, without reckoning anew from the beginning.

-Thomas Hobbes

Civic Ignorance

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