75% of Oklahoma High School Students Can't Name the First President of the U.S.

[Joel]

About 92% of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3% of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

First read this story a few days ago and found it almost as interesting as I did disturbing, hopefully they fare better with current events considering their age group plays the largest role in presidential elections.

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=11141949

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[nubly]

the title of this thread is very misleading. im sure more than 75%, if not all, OK students know who the first president is. ive never taken the test but i hear its hard. the people that are going to become citizens study it. im sure that if you take a lot of americans and have them take that test, a lot of them will pass. give them the study guide and a lot of them will pass.

[Joel]

I was going by the story's headline for the thread's title but it is true they didn't survey every student in the entire state, however of the random thousand they did survey it was actually 77% couldn't answer who the first president was and only 2.9% in total passed the 10 question test to answer at least 6 correctly. You can read the questions for yourself if you'd like from the link, they're all very basic.

[Frankie_Lee]

Yeah but I bet they all have those great heartland values.

[UltraShy]

Let's see if I'm any smarter than a HS student in Oklahoma:

-What is the supreme law of the land?

US Constitution that is regularly ignored by both the US Supreme Court & Presidents & Congress

-What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

Bill of Rights (also regularly ignored)

-What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

Senate & House of Representatives

-How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?

9 (many of them brain-dead idiots)

-Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Was it Jefferson? Well, it was some of the founding fathers I'm sure.

-What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?

Atlantic

-What are the two major political parities in the United States?

Republican & Democrat (aka Dumb & Dumber -- though often hard to tell which is dumber)

-We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?

Six

-Who was the first President of the United States?

George Washington, the dude on your dollar bill.

-Who is in charge of the executive branch?

Mr. President, Barack Hussein Obama.

[Thomas Paine]

This is news?

I have relatives in OK though. They do know some stuff. Like, "if you watch Harry Potter you will go to hell.". Yeah... they're good little Crusaders. And who cares about history when there are so many souls that need converting before the world ends?

[Jnmcda0]

Originally Posted by UltraShy

-Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Was it Jefferson? Well, it was some of the founding fathers I'm sure.

Yes, it was Jefferson. Coincidently, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (2nd and 3rd Presidents, respectively) died on July 4, 1826...50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration.

[caflme]

Originally Posted by Thomas Paine

This is news?

I have relatives in OK though. They do know some stuff. Like, "if you watch Harry Potter you will go to hell.". Yeah... they're good little Crusaders. And who cares about history when there are so many souls that need converting before the world ends?

LMAO.... so true - but not just in OK.... sadly this is the case in many areas.

[Iced Soul]

This makes me very worried about my niece and nephews.
I won't let them get to high school and not even know the name of the first president. That's just insane. You would think they would know that by the end of 4th grade, at most.

[The Strong Silent Type]

Most children don't know that John Hanson was the 1st President of the U.S. They think it is some washington guy. Kids these days. http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

[millenniumman75]

What do you expect? The history books these kids read have six pages full of information on Marilyn Monroe when they should be learning about the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1962!

[Jnmcda0]

Originally Posted by The Strong Silent Type

Most children don't know that John Hanson was the 1st President of the U.S. They think it is some washington guy. Kids these days. http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

Hanson was the first President of Congress, under the Articles of Confederation. The office of President of the United States is a different position (being part of the executive branch, rather than the legislative branch). You could argue that because the office of the President of the United States replaced the office of President of Congress, that Hanson was the first President, but most historians agree that because the President of Congress was not part of the executive branch and the role of the President of Congress was different from that of President of the United States, that George Washington was the first President of the U.S. Hanson certainly had a major role in the revolution and early government, regardless.

[Ospi]

I can't name the first PM of Australia......Don't care to know it lol.

[Thomas Paine]

Originally Posted by Ospi

I can't name the first PM of Australia......Don't care to know it lol.

Yeah, but nobody cares who the first Aussie PM was. :P

[Ospi]

True.

[kikachuck]

You know what would be funny? You have to figure there's at least one Washington High School in Oklahoma. I wonder if they asked those kids

But back to the issue at hand, they may not know who the first president it is, but they probably know plenty about diversity and how to properly put on a condom. That's important stuff after all.

[Thomas Paine]

I thought it was George Bush.

[millenniumman75]

Originally Posted by kikachuck

You know what would be funny? You have to figure there's at least one Washington High School in Oklahoma. I wonder if they asked those kids

- that would be horrible.