AUDIO: AMERICANS FAIL CITIZENSHIP TEST
According to a recent survey done for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, just a third of Americans can pass a multiple choice “U.S. Citizenship Test.” The actual test only requires that 60 percent of the answers be correct. In the survey, just 36 percent passed. What’s worse – out of Americans 45 and younger, the passing rate is only 19 percent. Some of the biggest fails:
– 72 percent of respondents either incorrectly identified or were unsure of which states were part of the 13 original states.
– 24 percent could correctly identify one thing Benjamin Franklin was famous for, with 37 percent believing he invented the lightbulb.
– 12 percent incorrectly thought WWII General Dwight Eisenhower led troops in the Civil War.
– 2 percent said the Cold War was caused by climate change.
The foundation did the survey to make the point that Americans need to brush up on history and current events if they want to make a reasoned pick in the upcoming midterm congressional elections.
* Oh, I think we gave up on “reasoned pick” a looooong time ago.
* Like we gave up on “National Fellowship”.
* Who’s this Woodrow Wilson guy with the foundation?
* Didn’t John D. Rockefeller invent the lightbulb? That’s how he got so rich.
* Ben Franklin invented the 5-and-Dime store. Everyone knows that.
CLIP: In a 2014 segment of “JayWalking” on the Tonight Show, Jay Leno asked regular people questions from the Citizenship Test.
