Civic Liberties Test

[01503]

http://progressofcivilizationblog.blogspot...eracy-test.html

At http://americancivicliteracy.org/, I took a test on, well, my Civic Literacy. I scored 31 questions correct out of 33, or about 94%. What will you get?

Take the test here, and see some statistics on it here.

Remember, these are just the people that went out of their way to take it. Not those who don't give a shit about civic literacy, those who went on the internet and took the test. It is not mandatory for anything. The average person who doesn't care about this did not take it. Imagine, if everyone in America took this quiz, what the score would be.

I shiver at the thought. But hell, I scored in the top less than 1%. Leave your scores in the replies. And no lying allowed. This post has a built in lie detector.

[John McVey]

I got 30 out of 33, having gotten wrong questions 7, 10, and 12. Pretty fly for an Antipodean, but then again I am old enough to have been educated in a public school at a time when public schools were still at least partly genuinely concerned about educating rather than indoctrinating. My father is a high-school teacher in the public sector and the majority of the stories he has to tell about it are horror stories, including but not limited to the dumbing down of content. Wasn't it Jefferson who said public education was necessary for liberty to be preserved? Whoever it was got the issue 100% dead wrong.

JJM

[Randroid]

84% with 28 out of 33 questions. Worst result on this forum so far, but still well above average. Considering that I'm not even a U.S. citizen, I'm pleased with myself.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Missed one. (And I'd argue that the correct answer there is poorly phrased. I wasn't happy with any of the answers given for that question.)

I have NO idea what question 13 is doing on this test. It was a history of philosophy question. (And I was lucky to get it right since I know very little about other philosophies.)

Many of the questions (a block starting at question 25) are actually on economics, and there are people--reputable ones, not just dufi in the streets--out there who seriously believe one (or many) of the wrong answers is correct. Whoever wrote the test, however, appears to believe in Laissez Faire Capitalism. I would have been scored wrong on a lot more than one question if a leftist had written the test. (There were a couple of potential gotchas as well if a religious right weenie had written the test.)

BTW Nick you titled the thread "Civic Liberties" when the test is on "Civic Literacy."

All in all a fairly challenging test, with its share of answers that are *close* to right to potentially trap the unwary.

[sanjavalen]

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

I got the last question wrong, having answered that if taxes equal government spending, then government debt is 0.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Great minds think alike. That is precisely the same error I made. I actually sent them an e-mail. (Technically for that answer to be right the word should be "deficit" *but* the correct answer had problems as well.

...And I'd like to compliment those outside the United States who do well, there's a lot of relatively arcane stuff in it I would not expect a foreigner to know. Of course it's appalling that many of *us* don't know that stuff.

[D'kian]

Great minds think alike. That is precisely the same error I made. I actually sent them an e-mail. (Technically for that answer to be right the word should be "deficit" *but* the correct answer had problems as well.

Got that one "wrong" as well. For precisely the same reason you guys did. I think our answer is pretty basic: if spending equals income then there can be no debt. However, that does depend on whether or not the income is, at least in part, seasonal in nature.

In the clothing business, for example, about half of all income arrives during the second half of December. So even if you have a profitable year (ie income exceeds expenses), you may need to take on some short term debt to get by until December. Toy manufacturers and toy stores depend even more heavily on December sales. Other business, like farming, are also seasonal in income distribution.

...And I'd like to compliment those outside the United States who do well, there's a lot of relatively arcane stuff in it I would not expect a foreigner to know. Of course it's appalling that many of *us* don't know that stuff.

Thank you. I scored 28 out of 33 (84.85% according to my calculations). But many questions were too easy. I mean, the Lincoln-Douglass debates, the New Deal's name, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the division of powers, the powers of the federal government, etc. I say this never having had any formal education on US history or politics (well, a little formal history on US independence, about half a week's worth).

[Zip]

Hmm, I'm not the Americanphile that some here are it seems. Poor showing at 67% though I'm surprised that beats most educators by over 10%.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

I am *not* surprised, Zip. Just disgusted. With the educators.

[Nate T.]

I got 30 out of 32 right!

I got 7 wrong, and I answered 30 incorrectly out of principle (since I know they wanted some kind of Keynesian answer).

[aleph_0]

Missed one. (And I'd argue that the correct answer there is poorly phrased. I wasn't happy with any of the answers given for that question.)

I have NO idea what question 13 is doing on this test. It was a history of philosophy question. (And I was lucky to get it right since I know very little about other philosophies.)

Many of the questions (a block starting at question 25) are actually on economics, and there are people--reputable ones, not just dufi in the streets--out there who seriously believe one (or many) of the wrong answers is correct. Whoever wrote the test, however, appears to believe in Laissez Faire Capitalism. I would have been scored wrong on a lot more than one question if a leftist had written the test. (There were a couple of potential gotchas as well if a religious right weenie had written the test.)

BTW Nick you titled the thread "Civic Liberties" when the test is on "Civic Literacy."

All in all a fairly challenging test, with its share of answers that are *close* to right to potentially trap the unwary.

I got #30 and #33 wrong, so 94%. I'm not convinced of my error in either. It asks what "a government" would do during recession, and do they not tend to increase both taxes and spending? Even though they increase taxes less in recession than they do in good times, I would think they still increase taxes in recession. And likewise, I disagree with the answer they give for #33. In fact, many of the questions and answers were quite biased.

[themadkat]

Missed two here, 7 and 27. Guess I need a history/econ refresher.

[Maximus]

I got 30 out of 33 correct - 90.91%. I missed questions 8, 27, and 30.

[John Link]

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

I got the last question wrong, having answered that if taxes equal government spending, then government debt is 0.

The deficit in some year is defined as the spendng for that year minus the tax revenue for that year. The debt is the accumulation of the deficits for all previous years adjusted by any payments to reduce the debt. So taxes could be equal to spending in this year but there could still be a debt due to deficits in previous years.

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Question 30 I followed conventional wisdom as to what a government should do. Mind you that conventional wisdom is *wrong*.

[KevinDW78]

I went all the way up to question 26 and got bored with it and didn't finish it lol

[TuringAI]

You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %

Awesome. Also I think it's great that so many people herer are civilly literate!

[Maarten]

I got 29 correct. Not bad for someone who never took US government classes =)

Yeah, I agree that 33 was weird. For one thing, there can easily be less taxpayers than government spending recipients, so I don't think their answer is really correct. I also got 6, 7 and some other one wrong.

[01503]

Update:

US officials flunk test of American history, economics, civics

[Zip]

:? That really is pathetic. Coming from the dumb Canadian Army guy with the 67%

[SBP2009]

I achieved 84.85%, with 28 correct out of 33. Not bad for a Canuck who grew up under Chairman Trudeau's rule!

[JMeganSnow]

I got all but question 33 correct, and I agree that their answer is completely bogus. NONE of the options are *necessarily* true of a government that spends only what it taxes. The answer should be "the *deficit* is zero".

[Sir Andrew]

I took this the other day and got all but the last one right.

I don't see how if you have a balanced budget the spending per citizen equals the taxation per person. That isn't true in America, when we have a progressive tax rate and a welfare system. It's rigged, I say!

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Okay, that's multiple people who thought the last question sucked.

[Soth]

You answered 23 out of 33 correctly — 69.70 %

I found myself clueless on some questions. And yes, some of the questions were biased.

30) Which of the following fiscal policy combinations would a government most likely follow to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?

A. increasing both taxes and spending

B. increasing taxes and decreasing spending

C. decreasing taxes and increasing spending

D. decreasing both taxes and spending

Who the hell knows which answer is the one they mean here? Governments are crazy, they are likely to follow the wrong thing (which is the intended answer).