Colleges accused of failing civics test-Cal, Stanford get poor grades...

[fed-up]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/27/DUMBBELLS.TMP


Colleges accused of failing civics test
Cal, Stanford get poor grades in study

Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Seniors at UC Berkeley, the nation's premier public university, got an F in their basic knowledge of American history, government and politics in a new national survey, while students at Stanford University didn't do much better, getting a D.

Out of 50 schools surveyed, Cal ranked 49th and Stanford 31st in how well they are increasing student knowledge about American history and civics between the freshman and senior years. And they're not alone among major universities in being fitted for a civics dunce cap.

Other poor performers in the study were Yale, Duke, Brown and Cornell universities. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was the tail-ender behind Cal, ranking 50th. The No. 1 ranking went to unpretentious Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

...snip

The aim was to determine how well the colleges are teaching their students the basics of government, politics and history -- the bedrocks of good citizenship.


...snip

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Wanna eliminate the Republican Party?

Then IMPROVE civics classes!

[pnwmom]

3. Don't worry. You can be sure the Republicans will work to improve them.

The same way they improve everything.

[pnwmom]

2. Why are they concerned about how much students are INCREASING

their knowledge of civics and basic history between freshman and senior years? Shouldn't they have had the basics in high school? And isn't high school the critical place to be teaching these subjects, since the vast majority of students do not go on to graduate from a four year college?

College isn't an extension of high school, taught in the same way. Students have major, and sometimes minor, fields of study that determine their coursework. My daughter was an engineering student and didn't have time to take American history and civics classes in every year of college.

I think the solution here is to work on the teaching in high school, not shift it up to college.

[Selatius]

4. It should be done in high school, but there is a problem of funding

I remember seeing this on truemajority.org where the US government spends 35 billion on K-12 education. In contrast, the US government spends 400 billion on military defense.

Do the math. We're spending more money on bullets and bombs than on books and pencils.

http://www.truemajority.org/oreos/

As Eisenhower said:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. <...> Is there no other way the world may live?

[pnwmom]

7. There is a govt. movement now to try to test college students and

I think what's behind it, is that the Republicans think the current faculty is too liberal (in general). So the govt. wants to dictate what is taught, by testing it.

It's a issue for us to watch carefully. Their idea of "improving" what is taught at the college level would be very different from ours.

[LostinVA]

9. High School history textbooks suck

Read "Lies My Teacher Told Me." Great book. Great author.

[Viking12]

8. That is probably why Cal and Stanford did so poorly...

Their student scores didn't INCREASE much because the student's getting into Cal and Stanford likely have a solid grasp of civics when they enter as freshman.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. I'll bet that it isn't just civics either.

I'll bet that outside of a very narrow band of subject material that those geniuses don't know anything, but give them a SAT type "intelligence" test they score off the charts.

[bluestateguy]

6. I don't consider Berkeley "the nation's premier public university"

I don't think it has been for awhile. It's up there, but I think the best public university is either UT-Austin or UVA, with honorable mentions for Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan.

[LostinVA]

10. Agreed -- I'd say Michigan and UVA

With UNC, WI, and UT-A right there....

[Sgent]

11. I don't get it

Other than liberal arts majors, I doubt most college graduates even take a US history course.

They *might* take a wester civ class -- but even that is not a give (World History instead).

In some cases (like mine), my one history class was an ancient civ. class -- although I did take a Poly Sci and Business Law class that expanded my knowledge (but weren't history).

I don't get it -- basic citizenship should be taught in HS's. Not everyone enrolled in a University is a US Citizen -- and many have no need for additional training.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. What percentage are international students?

I'd suspect many of these schools attract a large number of international students.