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Colleges accused of failing civics test

December 1, 2006 on 6:37 pm | In Uncategorized | 636 Comments

Colleges accused of failing civics test
Cal, Stanford get poor grades in study
Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Seniors at UC Berkeley, the nation’s premier public university, got an F in their basic knowledge of American history, government and politics in a new national survey, while students at Stanford University didn’t do much better, getting a D.

Out of 50 schools surveyed, Cal ranked 49th and Stanford 31st in how well they are increasing student knowledge about American history and civics between the freshman and senior years. And they’re not alone among major universities in being fitted for a civics dunce cap.

Other poor performers in the study were Yale, Duke, Brown and Cornell universities. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was the tail-ender behind Cal, ranking 50th. The No. 1 ranking went to unpretentious Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

The study was conducted by the University of Connecticut’s department of public policy and the nonprofit education organization Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Researchers sampled 14,000 students at 50 schools, large and small.

The aim was to determine how well the colleges are teaching their students the basics of government, politics and history — the bedrocks of good citizenship.