SQJ Taipei

Here’s a fun civics quiz for you to take. It will take about 15 minutes, but is worth your time.

After you take the test, you’ll get to look at some alarming statistics showing that US Colleges and Universities are failing at teaching civics. For many questions, graduating college seniors score lower than incoming freshman. Why am I not surprised?

Civic Literacy Report - Civics Quiz

I scored 95% missing questions 35, 54, and 58. As I took the test, I was asking myself why I knew the answers. I couldn’t think of a single one that I knew because of a college course although there probably were some. A few were from high school (Thank you Mr. Paschal) but the majority I knew only from personal study and motivation. My advice? Stop trusting others to educate you or educate your children. Take matters into your own hands and read and read and read.

The quiz itself offers numerous ideas for what to read:

• The US Constitution
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Federalist Papers (text or audio)
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
• Plato’s The Republic
• John Locke’s Writings
• Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

hattip: Henry Cate @ Why Homeschool