American Civic Literacy

I will freely admit that my civic literacy is not as good as I thought. My disappointment in my score had me in a temporary funk until I examined those of college students at America’s premier universities. When I found I exceeded the results for senior college students my self esteem was somewhat restored but my disappointment then turned to their performance. I beat the college seniors by about 10% for the highest of the group and nearly doubled the median of the top fifty colleges. I would have imagined that this information was recent enough to be remembered. That is, of course, if they learned it in the first place.

If you would care to challenge their score and mine, you may take the test yourself. There are sixty multiple choice questions and it took me about fifteen minutes. Once complete, the web site computes your score and then furnishes you with the accumulated figures for the various universities. They approach the recap with a highly varied view including multiple tables representing various demographic, financial, and improvement (and reduction) rates for the schools. The result was considerable time spent examining the tables in excess of what I had spent on the test.

If you decide to venture into this examination please don’t blame me for your score. If you are an avid “Zion Beckons” reader, you should do at least as well as my clumsy effort. I wound up with that which would be a D+ in my high school. The students in all cases averaged an unequivocal F. God help us. These people are of voting age. I fully realize that a major in quantum physics doesn’t require a through knowledge of civics and history but being a citizen does. We all have responsibilities beyond our vocation.

It’s possible that the current political season has heightened awareness about civic matters as I listen to intentional misrepresentation of easily verifiable facts.. The media is particularly adept at positing a fractured view of both history and law. Unfortunately, the bulk of these false assertions go unchallenged. Recently I have heard at least three different individuals claim that the words, “separation of church and state” appear in our constitution. Maybe they are written in their copy but they are not in mine. As we are all aware, a lie repeated often enough sometimes becomes a conventional and accepted fact.

So, if you choose, have at it. If you share your score with me I promise not to reveal it unless you get at least fifty of the sixty questions correct. If by some act of Providence you “ace” it, please don’t ruin my day with the information. Let me keep a tiny measure of my self-worth.

One final thought which is off topic but I can’t wait for the “rant” to air it. Mr. Obama’s campaign is urging folks to stop using his middle name—Hussein. This prompted me to attempt to recall the middle name of the presidents from Roosevelt on. If you do likewise, I believe you will have little difficulty. For some reason they come to mind quite easily as a result of the repeated use they enjoyed. The only one which presented any difficulty was Reagan’s. Try it; it’s fun.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon