Monday, March 21, 2011

Newsweek Q&A on Why 38% of American Citizens Fail U.S. Citizenship tests

Disparity in Education, Disparity in Income and a Complicated Government Blamed - Seriously

Newsweek’s recent article entitled: How Dumb Are We? offers web readers the opportunity to take a part of the U.S. Citizenship test here at www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/take-the-quiz-what-we-don-t-know.htm”. In so much as they offer approximately 20 questions that are basic, it would not be of any surprise if most high school students could not pass the test. One commenter noted that they felt like they were on Jay Leno, in reference to Leno’s “Jay-Walking Segment”, where questions are posed to individuals on the street, and the answers are astounding considering some of those queried claim teaching as a profession.
Or does that come as a surprise at all? One of the biggest concerns pointed out by Newsweek is the lack of quality education in our nation to those who are not “wealthy” (by implication) and the disparity in education between states. The comparison used by Newsweek to judge the competency of the American Education system – Europe. The fact that wealth would be a factor in the U.S. is one point every one of us should consider ridiculous, due to the fact that our teachers, under the guidance of the teachers unions, are allegedly the best of the best, especially when they are not out picketing for their respective unions.

In reality, in the 1950’s and 1960’s one would be hard pressed to find a 4th grader who would not be able to pass the citizenship test, given the fact that civics was taught from those grades forward, along with history, which in large part, was American History, not “Social Studies” which is an amalgamated version of History, Geography and what one might consider the “larger world view”. To suggest that students in the United States do not have access to quality education based on income levels is ludicrous. Rather to suggest that there is a variance in levels of competency within the educational system, would be more to the point. When a teacher has tenure, they are “safe” from any incompetency. To truly fix the education system, one would have to go back to basics, or simply fire a teacher or two. To fix the problem, the teachers should be treated much like a degreed professional in the private sector: employment based on performance.

On the educational system and inequality compared to Europe:

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 percent 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.

Read that twice.

Therefore, due to the income level, when compared to Denmark (the size of say Massachusetts), the US fares well if only upper income individuals are scored. However, there’s the unfortunate fact that we have a large immigrant population that does not speak English – A simple solution would be to mandate students learn English using old fashioned immersion. It works in Europe, it works in private schools in the United States, and it would work in the public schools as well.

The author goes on to bemoan the fact that there public broadcasting is not mandated. According to the article, if public broadcasting was the only option, the education level would increase specifically regarding world affairs. However, we do have access to news regarding foreign policy, be it in print, cable or the evening news. Simply put, to improve scores on this level, students in a “social studies class” might be assigned to watch the evening news, or cable news, or read a newspaper, and report back each day, allowing for discussion. This was a feature of the educational system (pre-cable of course) in the U.S., how much more effective a tool would that be now?

Additionally, with the ability to connect to news in an instant on the web, it would be simple for those, even in the poorest states and the poorest districts, to offer even 20 minutes daily of current events, as regards to foreign policy. What about encouraging parents and children to watch a news segment together? There’s one public service message that should be played during prime time, not at 3 am in the morning (along with most of those spots.

The article continues to touch on the problem of our debt, and how the average American clearly does not understand the need for social programs, and debt spending in the U.S., Bemoans the fact that our government is too complicated, that we have too many positions to fill by election, and that it is impossible for average people to understand the way the system works. The solution: mandate blindfolding individuals to teach them the “facts” according to one professor, and then they will become enlightened and be just as wise as our European counterparts.

Seriously.

This is perhaps the most insulting article one could image being written. It is from the world view point, and does little to address the fact, that as a whole, the United States Educational System, our system of government, and the fact that we live in a free market society, has for decades been a selling point to those who would risk life, limb and fortune for a chance to become an American citizen. The fix is simple, teach competent civics from an early age, include current events, and fire incompetent teachers, and one would find those scores rising at a rapid rate. (As well as scores in math, reading, and the sciences). One more thing, incorporate the use of immersion as part and parcel of the education system. Immersion: as in every other country in the word, places a child in the classroom , and every lesson is taught in the native language (not the students native language), the student may be placed back a year, but, in the long run, ends up competing on a par with those who have lived in that nation from the beginning. (A system used by most private primary schools in the U.S.to great effect.)

The Newsweek the test, is rudimentary, mandates one signs in and post their answers to a comments section, prior to scoring oneself. An actual on-line test which allows scoring is available here at the USD.gov portal This test, is by far the better test, and includes immediate scores. For the record, the questions should be easy for anyone educated within the United States prior the 1970’s. Pop Quiz: What was organized in Philadelphia in the 1970’s that led to the decline in the education in the United States?

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