They're the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When newsweek recently asked 1,000 U.S. Citizens to take America's official citizenship test, 29% couldn't name the vice president.
Seventy-three percent couldn't correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-three percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And six percent of those surveyed couldn't even circle Independence Day on a calendar.
Don't get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they've existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they've been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman's day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to "slightly under one percent."
But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it's becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings--like us.
To appreciate the risks involved, it's important to understand where American ignorance comes from. In March 2009, the European Journal of Communication asked citizens of Britain, Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. to answer questions on international affairs. The Europeans clobbered us. Sixty-eight percent of Danes, 75% of Brits, and 76% of Finns could, for example, identify the Taliban, but only 58% of Americans managed to do the same--even though we've led the charge in Afghanistan. It was only the latest in a series of polls that have shown us lagging behind our First World peers.
Most experts agree that the relative complexity of the U.S. political system makes it hard for Americans to keep up. In many European countries, parliaments have proportional representation, and the majority party rules without having to "share power with a lot of subnational governments," notes Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker, coauthor of Winner-Take-All Politics. In contrast, we're saddled with a nonproportional Senate; a tangle of state, local, and federal bureaucracies; and near-constant elections for every imaginable office (judge, sheriff, school-board member, and so on). "Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote," says Michael Schudson, author of The Good Citizen. "You know you're going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more."
It doesn't help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60% combined. As Dalton Conley, an NYU sociologist, explains, "it's like comparing apples and oranges. Unlike Denmark, we have a lot of very poor people without access to good education, and a huge immigrant population that doesn't even speak English." When surveys focus on well-off, native-born respondents, the U.S. actually holds its own against Europe.
Source: Newsweek, http:// www.newsweek.com
Maybe it's just me (or the really good teachers I had), but US history was always one of my better subjects. I have a great memory for dates and time lines, and the progression of politics, civics and modern culture also fascinates me. Even though we should be familiar with most of our history, the fact that some Americans don't seem to know or care much about our history and changes in culture is not really surprising.
A lot of times, your knowledge of something generally lies in your interest (or lack thereof) in that particular subject. If some people don't care about politics or don't even bother to vote, why would they know anything about the Bill of Rights, the Cold War or even who the Vice President is? However, some of those same people could probably tell you who the most recent "American Idol" is or who won on "Dancing with the Stars."
Talent shows and reality TV are a part of modern culture, however, I find it unfortunate that reality TV is the limit of cultural interest for some. In all fairness, Independence Day is usually refered to as the "Fourth of July," so naturally the 6% surveyed could not mark it on the calendar. Not knowing why July 4th is celebrated as a national holiday is the real ignorance that should be addressed.
I would guess that having a desire to know where we've been and how or why we've changed gives me the drive to seek out that information and retain it. It also helps, I think, to have a general understanding or passion for what I want to know. It may also have to do with the fact that ignorance is not something I care to wallow in.
I'm assuming that the 38% of Americans who flunked this test must have gotten very comfortable with their civil liberties and have failed to realize all the struggle and bloodshed that occurred in order for them to feel so "free." Their lack of interest in American history or the involvement of the US in the world around us may reflect more on their contentment and laziness than actual ignorance. I think there's a big difference in not knowing something and not wanting to know something.
People who are applying for citizenship in this country usually understand the plight it takes to achieve democracy and can truly appreciate all the amenities that come with living in a free society. They've studied the Constitution, understand it, and don't take their civil rights for granted. We all should always be prepared for a pop quiz.
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