Arizona High Schools Fail Civics
By Sun Kyu Bae |
Published July 3, 2009 |
Articles |
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Is there any justification as to why Arizona high school students failed a sample civics test? Find out here.
The Arizona Factor
Depending on the publication, Arizona is a "bottom half state" when it comes to academic performance (here's an example of just one publication from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which grades Arizona as a "D" in academic achievement). Not to say that the Goldwater Institute intentionally picked on this state for its test (the organization is also located in Arizona and so it makes sense that it would make the results most relevant to its regional audience), but it's clear that Arizona's education system is not representative of the entire nation and so we should not be extrapolating the test results to all high school students in the U.S.
My Verdict
So after analyzing the factors that went into this test, I still cannot confidently defend the test results. Other than my strongest argument, which is the possibility that demographics of the students may have skewed the test results, my other arguments only seem to raise small doubts at questioning the fairness of these results.
I mean, sure there were a couple of harder questions thrown in. And yes, the students really didn't benefit nor were they penalized for their efforts. But considering that only 40 students out of over 1,000 got 6 out of 10 questions correct…it makes you wonder whether they realize why we're celebrating this long weekend.
One last thing - I wrote the author of this article and asked whether there were any responses from public school representatives regarding the abysmal test results. The only semi-plausible argument that came forth was the fact that civics was crowded out of its minimum state testing requirements for high school graduation (aka - Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards Test (AIMS Test)), which focuses on reading, math, writing, and science - this goes back to my semi-plausible argument about incentives for knowing about civics.
Now reasonable people may disagree on what knowledge is required for high school graduation, but conferring a diploma on someone who doesn't know who the first president of the United States was, especially when that student happens to live in the United States, just feels wrong…and sad.
To those who remember, happy 4th everyone.
- Sun
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