What Tufts Knows

I'm not certain exactly where Tufts is located, but in this story by the Tufts Daily (warning, a little slow to load) a shortened version of the naturalization political knowledge test made famous by a Newsweek article that demonstrated how poorly American adults did was posed to the university students.  I blogged about the Newsweek article here.

How did 225 Tufts students do?  Not so bad by the light on the hill:

The results of the test, however, showed that Tufts students did in fact outscore Newsweek's "average American" — by 61 percent. The subjects who participated in the Daily's abridged survey outperformed Newsweek's group by exceptionally steep margins on certain questions, including "Who was president during World War I?" to which only 20 percent of Newsweek participants but 70 percent of Tufts participants responded correctly, "Woodrow Wilson," and the question "What is the economic system in the United States?" to which only 33 percent of Newsweek's participants but 85 percent of Tufts participants replied correctly, "capitalist or market economy."

On some items, though, Tufts students didn't fare so well.  This one is kinda embarrassing.  Here's the graf:

The average American did, however, stump Tufts when it came to the question, "Whom did the United States fight against during World War II?" Sixty percent of Newsweek's subjects but only 53 percent of Tufts students were able to name all three major axis powers correctly.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?   Hell no!

The news article is good in that it spends time evaluating whether this kind of knowledge matters in general and specifically to Tufts students, many of whom are not from the U.S.  It's worth a read and I may very well use it in the Fall when I teach a freshman seminar on news and faux news and what people know.

Americans Fail ... Their Own Naturalization Test

Yup, it's embarrassing when -- as this column points out -- Americans can't pass their own naturalization test.  Drawing from the column, which drew from a Newsweek article:

• 29 percent couldn't name the vice president
• 73 percent couldn't correctly identify the reason for the cold war
• 44 percent couldn't identify the Bill of Rights
• 6 percent couldn't circle Independence Day on a calendar

The original Newsweek poll is here with a headline that asks, only somewhat rhetorically, How Dumb Are We?

Obviously this begs the question on how important it is to know these various factoids to participate meaningfully in a democracy.  The easy answer is yes, it's important.  The hard answer is -- perhaps not.  Is it rational to spend time and money to keep up with all this stuff when a single vote may not make all that much difference?  Is it even rational to spend time and energy voting?  These are Downsian approach questions beyond anything I'll try to get into here.  But even if you do believe in rational approach, you have to be at least kinda embarrassed by the numbers above.

How Smart Are Americans?

A Newsweek poll asked Americans a series of questions and tells us what we know and what we don't know. It's from the summer but still interesting. Somehow I missed it.

Examples: Three-fourths of Americans couldn't name the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and over half couldn't name the Speaker of the House. All in all, sad.

Thanks to Karen Russell for pointing me to this one.