On the first day of his American National Government class, Prof. Kevin Dopf asks how many of his students are United States citizens. Every hand shoots up.
“So, how did all you people become citizens?” he asks. “Did you pass a test?”
“No,” one young woman says tentatively. “We were born here.”
It’s a good thing. Based on his years of making his students at the University of South Carolina Beaufort take the test given to immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, most would be rejected.
Most states require some sort of high school civics instruction. But with surveys showing that a third of American adults can’t name the three branches of the federal government, and one in which 10% of college graduates think Judith Sheindlin – TV’s “Judge Judy” – serves on the U.S. Supreme Court, many think we should be aiming higher.
Here’s an AP citizenship quiz, if you want to test your knowledge.
I got them all right, including the number of Representatives, which is something that Jill Stein (who is actually running for president) didn’t know.
- But I knew that because I read about her dumbass answer. But I thought it was 140 before, so I was still more correct than her and I’m not even running for president.
I’m now announcing my candidacy. Vote some_guy.
Um… There are 435 members of the US House of Representatives.
If you include the 100 Senators, there are 535 “representatives” in the US.
145 is not the answer to anything.
I only got 50%, phew. Guess I won’t have to move to the US any time soon.
6/10. Not bad for never having taken a US civics course.
Miffed I missed the Bill o’Rights one. As ever, need to slow down and read the question better.
Was it the one about how many amendments are in the bill of rights? I picked 20 since I know we have close to that (but apparently 11+ aren’t considered part of the BoR?).
The Bill of Rights (amendments 1-10) specifically addressed debate over ratification of the Constitution.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
BoR are the first 10/27 amendments. They were all ratified in 1791. Federalists thought that the structural elements laid out in the main document would protect people’s rights but Antifederalists insisted on codifying specific rights and the BoR was a promise to get more people on board with the idea of the Constitution.
10/10 and most cases didn’t even need to see the choices.
E. Pleb Nista!
The AP citizenship quiz shouldn’t be AP, it should be a requirement to graduate.
I think ap doesn’t mean advanced placement, but associated press. Or I got whooshed.
Oops. I stand by my general statement. Passing a civics quiz should be required to graduate high school.
I agree civics is immensely important, but I think we might have bigger issues in our education system.
https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now
