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An interesting article, and take the test mentioned it's here. I scored 87.5%, I screwed up 4 questions. Two answers I admit to not knowing, and two more I misread because I was watching TV, explaining the test to an 11 y/o, and taking the test all at once.
But, given that, I still scored above average, and I did indeed pass.
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In his important 1988 book, Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch warned that “children in the U.S. are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society.”
Two decades later, we see the tragic results of our near-total failure to heed Hirsch’s alarm. The basic information that most high school and college graduates don’t know continues to astound those of us of all ages who managed to receive a pretty decent, often non-public education. In the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s 2008 test of civic literacy, gauging citizens’ “knowledge of America’s founding principles and texts, core history, and enduring institutions,” 71% failed.
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Hirsch's Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is on the bookshelf here, and at my son's homes. It's a MUST for teaching the kids our heritage and history and culture. It will play a huge part of my homeschooling of the 11 y/o starting in September.
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Schteveo beez schmarter then most 'mericans
8 comments:
I was at my bank today; there was a short line. Just one lady in front of me, an Asian lady who was trying to exchange yen for dollars.
It was obvious she was a little irritated...
She asked the teller, 'Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I only get hunat eighty? Why it change?'
The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Fluctuations.'
The Asian lady says, 'Fluc you white people too!'
Some old jokes are just too good not to repeat.
I'm too tired to make it through 33 questions. One thing I do know is that President Lincoln was a Republican. Yeah, that's right. The guy who freed all the slaves was a Republican.
Let me abos go loose, Lew
Let me abos go loose
They're of no further use, Lew
So let me abos go loose
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down.
A fine old Aussi tune.
Barack Obama was out jogging one morning along the parkway when he tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.
Before the Secret Service guys could get to him, 3 kids who were fishing pulled him out of the water. He was so grateful he offered the kids whatever they wanted.
The first kid said, 'I want to go to Disneyland ' Barak said, 'No Problem, I'll take you there on my special airplane.
The second kid said, 'I want a new pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes..
Barack said, 'I'll get them for you and even have Michael Jordan sign
them!'
The third kid said, ' I want a motorized wheelchair with a built in TV
and stereo headset!'
Barack was a little perplexed by this and said, 'But you don't look like you're handicapped.'
The kid said, 'I will be after my dad finds out I saved your ass from drowning.
But your jokes and songs make the point. IF you aren't culturally literate, those jokes and lyrics jes ain't funny.
31/33 for 93.94%
I'm not sure i agree with the need to read Hirsches book, only because our culture is being changed every day by the Left. It seems that for most of the younger people in this country, PC has become the new culture. I try very hard to teach my grandkids (9&14) about our real culture, but it sounds foreign to them based on what they're taught in the indoctrination camps they attend.
Most of the things many of us were taught growing have now been deemed "inappropriate" by those who are busy creating a new culture for Amerika. The only way to avoid most of this, as Steve suggests, is homeschooling. But what happens when those kids go out into the new Amerika and find their home-taught culture is no longer acceptable or even understood?
Personally, it makes me sad and very angry to see my culture being erased simply because it doesn't conform to someone elses political agenda. This is one of the reasons i'll be flying my Gadsden flag on the 4th of July.
I'll give you inappropriate behavior, that used to be acceptable.
I know of a man, with two teen aged kids, mother is dead, he runs the streets, spends most of their SSA Survivors Benefits for Children every month on himself and his girlfriend, no food in the house unless the older, working, child buys it. Sometimes even that doesn't happen because "dad" takes that money too, to keep that child from, "...'running around wild' like your momma did when she was your age...". It's not helping, their friends are willing to let them cop a buzz for free, daily, more on the weekend, or they swap "flop privileges" at their house for dope, when "dad" is gone for his usual 3 or 4 days away each week..
There was a time when caring neighbors would have TAKEN the kids in, FED the kids, TAUGHT the kids right from wrong, LOVED the kids and the menfolk would have stomped "dad's" ass into a Texas sized mud hole, walked him dry and told him NOT to even consider coming back.
But NOW, we have PCism, and DSS, and CPS.
Personally, I'm a fan of old style, vigilante justice.
long time commenter, name withheld for personal and legal reasons
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