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Intercollegiate Studies Institute Quiz

  • Thread starter Herr Heckler Koch
  • Start date

sidestreet

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
673
Location
, ,
Hmmm...,

missed four. Did I qualify for "Jay Walking"?

sidestreet

Jeremiah 29 vs. 11-13

we are not equal, we will never be equal, but we must be relentless.
 

since9

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
6,964
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %

Wah...

30 of 33 correct. 90.91%

I would imagine that our population is, by choice, better educated about government in general. I was shocked, however, by the 55% score of college educators.

Really?


"Full Civic Literacy Exam (from our 2008 survey)
Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams."


Holy mackeral! 49% is average??? I agree, SFCRetired that a 55% for college educators is abysmal. I suspect History and political science profs are pulling up the average of those who teach the more esoteric classes.
 
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Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
87.88 %

I'm appalled and embarrassed to say that I scored this low, but I take issue with several of the answers this quiz says I got "wrong"...

[h=2]Incorrect Answers[/h]
  • Question: What was the main issue in the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858? Your Answer: Is slavery morally wrong? Correct Answer: Would slavery be allowed to expand to new territories?

    The general topic was slavery in general, with a few hours spent on discussing slavery policies and laws in the Territories.

  • Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:
    Your Answer: government debt is zero
    Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

    Somehow, I doubt that even if current tax revenues equaled government spending, that I wold enjoy the same tax-benefit ratio of governmental spending that someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett would, simply because the benefits they can receive from the government based on their influence in the judicial and legislative branch are far greater than mine, based not on their worth to society, but on the amount of cmpaign contributions they make...


  • Question: In 1935 and 1936 the Supreme Court declared that important parts of the New Deal were unconstitutional. President Roosevelt responded by threatening to:
    Your Answer: impeach several Supreme Court justices
    Correct Answer: appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views

    OK, I botched this one...

  • Question: Which of the following fiscal policy combinations has the federal government most often followed to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession? Your Answer: increasing both taxes and spending Correct Answer: decreasing taxes and increasing spending

    During the recession of the 1980's Reagan increased corporate income tax.

    During the Great Depression, the Marginal Individual Income Tax rate rose from 25% (in 1930) to 79% (in 1937).


Just sayin'...
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
I Done Good!

I'm very pleased with myself:


You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %
If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.
You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.
[h=2]Incorrect Answers[/h]
  • Question: Which of the following fiscal policy combinations has the federal government most often followed to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?Your Answer: increasing both taxes and spendingCorrect Answer: decreasing taxes and increasing spending



:D

(We need a bowing smiley. And, a smug smiley. :))
 

PrayingForWar

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
1,701
Location
The Real World.
You answered 27 out of 33 correctly — 81.82 %
If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.
You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.




Question: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas would concur that:
Your Answer: moral ideas are best explained as material accidents or byproducts of evolutionCorrect Answer: certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason

Question:
Which of the following fiscal policy combinations has the federal government most often followed to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?Your Answer: increasing both taxes and spendingCorrect Answer: decreasing taxes and increasing spending

Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:Your Answer: markets rely upon coercion, whereas government relies upon voluntary compliance with the lawCorrect Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends

Question: If taxes equal government spending, then:Your Answer: government debt is zeroCorrect Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

Question: What was the source of the following phrase: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”?Your Answer: U.S. ConstitutionCorrect Answer: Gettysburg Address

Question: What was the main issue in the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858?Your Answer: Do Southern states have the constitutional right to leave the union?Correct Answer: Would slavery be allowed to expand to new territories?
I'm not ashamed by this. Not bad for a GED holder.
 
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Daylen

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
2,223
Location
America
The only one that is disputable is the Lincoln Douglas debates. The question about what the government does in a recession is right. One must consider ALL recessions not just the famous ones, to realize what is done MOST of the time, not just what idiots did.
 

Tawnos

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
2,542
Location
Washington
87.88 %

I'm appalled and embarrassed to say that I scored this low, but I take issue with several of the answers this quiz says I got "wrong"...



Somehow, I doubt that even if current tax revenues equaled government spending, that I wold enjoy the same tax-benefit ratio of governmental spending that someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett would, simply because the benefits they can receive from the government based on their influence in the judicial and legislative branch are far greater than mine, based not on their worth to society, but on the amount of cmpaign contributions they make...


Just sayin'...

Key words: on average. It's pretty simple math. It means that if you have 5 people, $5 of government spending, and $5 of tax revenue collected from those 5 people, it doesn't matter how it's split. You could have all 5 contribute $1 and receive $1, or you could have one guy contribute $5, the remaining 4 contribute $0, and have the government spend all $5 on any one of the people. That still works out so the average is $1 per person.

The reason "government debt is zero" is because debt is accumulated amount of money owed. You were probably thinking "deficit", because if the 5ian government above borrows $1 some year and gives out $6 to the 5 people, then it has a debt of $1, even if the following years it goes back to the $5 in/out model.

During the Great Depression, the Marginal Individual Income Tax rate rose from 25% (in 1930) to 79% (in 1937).
But spending decreased during the great depression. It wasn't until New Deal policies came along that spending was increased.

When they say "most often", though, I think you have to count the number of times. For the past 100 years, our policy in most cases has been to reduce taxes and increase government spending in response to a sluggish economy.
 

hermannr

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
2,327
Location
Okanogan Highland
There is a practice citizenship test on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration website that will also humble you. My lovely bride has been studying both English and for her citizenship exam and, at her urging, I took the practice test. As I said, humbling.

I think I took my citizenship test in Vietnam. Came back from Vietnam in (late) 1969 and was ordered by my division command to get it done if I wanted to keep my job (teaching a "citizens only" military class), so anyway, finally got my citizenship in 1970.

I think I took this test before, as it said, the survey was originally from 2008 that is very possible...I received my Masters in 1986...I got 100% on it this time, and if I remember, did the same back in 2008?

BTW: I graduated from highschool, and took my first couple of years of college in a country other than the US. (yes, I almost flunked typing in highschool)
 

sudden valley gunner

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
16,674
Location
Whatcom County
87.88% Not bad for a simple carpenter.
Could have been better if I thought the ones I missed out a little longer.
Like Tawnos said that one was a simple math question with the answer clued in the question, I missed that and thought deficit.
 
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Citizen

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Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
SNIP Like Tawnos said that one was a simple math question with the answer clued in the question, I missed that and thought deficit.

I was saved by my natural mistrust of government. I figgered that no matter what, government would never let the debt fall to zero; nor, would government ever actually pay it all off. This got me looking more closely at the other answers.
 

1245A Defender

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4,365
Location
north mason county, Washington, USA
well,,,

it was an interesting test,,, wonder if we could find more like it?

i sent the link to my best friend,, we have similar backgounds and schooling, but he is 64,
he got 66.6666667% right,,, yeehaaawww!!!

we are all mor skool smarts betterer then kolage prafesserss!!
 
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