Ignorant and Free? You Can’t Be Both

Sad news coming out of Oklahoma.  75% of high school students couldn’t say who was the first President of the United States.  While many of these questions are expected to be answered correctly by people applying for U.S. citizenship, it appears that it’s not important for people born in the U.S. to have any idea about civics or U.S. history.

Question                                            % of Students Who Answered Correctly

What is the supreme law of the land?                                                                 28

What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?              26

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?                                                  27

How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?                                  10

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?                                                14

What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?                                  61

What are the two major political parities in the United States?               43

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?                                                   11

Who was the first President of the United States?                                           23

Who is in charge of the executive branch?                                                        29

Is it just me or is it, perhaps, even worse that almost 40% of the students didn’t know the name of the Atlantic Ocean?

The No Child Left Behind Act that was put into place by Bush and his lemming Republicans does exactly that.  It leaves children behind.  It leaves them behind in civics, creative thinking, critical thinking, etc.

Oh, on a side note.  OK was decidedly RED during the last presidential election.  What does that say about the Republican constituents?

You know what’s really funny?  I found this book review that seems perfect for this occasion.  Hell, maybe it helps explain what’s going on in America.

What’s ironic about this is that the book review was done by The Oklahoma Daily.  I guess people in Oklahoma need to start doing some more reading.  Kudos to the OK Daily for reviewing this book in possibly one of the states that is being specifically targeted by this book.

My favorite part:

For example, the problems that Pierce addresses are nearly all related to Republicans. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that this book was once titled “Idiot Conservatives,” but changed at the last minute before printing.