Ignorance Starts Early

Sep 17, 2009 10:30 AM CDT

Oklahoma Students Score Low on Basic Civic Questions


OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.
The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.
Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.
The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.
"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.
A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.
About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.
Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.
"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."
Question
% of StudentsWho Answered Correctly
What is the supreme law of the land?

28
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

26
What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

27
How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?

10
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

14
What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?

61
What are the two major political parities in the United States?

43
We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?

11
Who was the first President of the United States?

23
Who is in charge of the executive branch?

29
See the answers to the test