Don’t know much about history? (or economics)?

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute released their latest report on Americans’ civic literacy (HT to Center for College Affordability). The results are not good.

Click here to take the quiz for yourself.

  • The average score among all citizens is 49%
  • 71% of citizens surveyed scored an F; only 0.8% scored an A (90% or above)
  • College adds little to civic knowledge – college graduates averaged only 57% correct (their previous version of the study found that most “elite” colleges have little or no value added in terms of civic literacy).
  • Elected officials scored worse than citizens – averaging only 44% correct and scoring worse on 29 of the 33 questions. (Marginal Revolution has more on this trend)

You can register to get the full report, get the news release, and take the quiz all at AmericanCivicLiteracy.org. For the record, I scored 31 out of 33 – the Puritans tripped me up, and there is one answer I take issue with.