From News9:
OKLAHOMA CITY — Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.
The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.
Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.
A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.
About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.
…snip…
Question % of Students
Who Answered CorrectlyWhat is the supreme law of the land?
28 What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
26 What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
27 How many justices are there on the Supreme Court?
10 Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
14 What ocean is on the east coast of the United States?
61 What are the two major political parities in the United States?
43 We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
11 Who was the first President of the United States?
23 Who is in charge of the executive branch?
29
From OnTheIssues:
Tom Coburn on Education
- The lottery proposal to fund education undermines virtue. (Oct 2004)
- Voted NO on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects. (Oct 2007)
- Voted NO on $52M for “21st century community learning centers”. (Oct 2005)
- Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
- Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
- Voted YES on allowing vouchers in DC schools. (Aug 1998)
- Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997)
From OnTheIssues:
James Inhofe on Education
- Voted NO on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects. (Oct 2007)
- Voted NO on $52M for “21st century community learning centers”. (Oct 2005)
- Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
- Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
- Voted NO on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
- Voted NO on funding student testing instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
- Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)
- Voted YES on Educational Savings Accounts. (Mar 2000)
- Voted YES on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules. (Mar 1999)
- Voted YES on education savings accounts. (Jun 1998)
- Voted YES on school vouchers in DC. (Sep 1997)
- Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)
- Voted YES on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer. (Mar 1994)
- Rated 27% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
- Make employee educational assistance tax-deductible. (Jan 1993)
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
Being from Texas, I could make some gratuitous Oklahoma jokes. However, the sad thing is that these two mean, bigoted morons are just excessive examples of the narrow minded and unrealistic thinking that dominates conservative philosophy in this country. Texas Senators (and all other Rethug Senators) aren’t much better. They spend more time trying to figure out how to break the NEA and appeal to the prayer-in-school Nazis than they do trying to figure out how to create a credible and qualitative education system.
jeb,
the article mentioned that arizona students didn’t fare any better (another red state). i honestly think that the rethugs want to control who gets educated and who doesn’t. that’s why they despise affirmative action. they know that knowledge is power, so they want to make sure they decide who gets the power and who doesn’t.
I watched Idiocracy for the first time last night. Of course the premise there is that people with lower IQs out-breed those with higher IQs. Maybe that’s why the Rethugs oppose education and birth control.
i saw it for the first time a couple of months ago. at first, i was wondering why there was a rethuglican national convention in july, but then i realized it was a movie.
I was stationed in Lawton, OK back in the 80’s. I was fortunate enough to watch a news story about the reading levels of Oklahoma’s teens and adults. Even back then at best 1 out of 3 people in the state at the time couldn’t read the directions on a pill bottle. Oh boy talk about stagnating? I am afraid to drive through the state just in case some one can’t read the stop signs!
How sad.
hello kitty carumba,
welcome to the raisin! 😀
i really think that they want to keep the people stupid. that way, they keep voting for rethugs.
😆 good thing stop signs are red and hexagonal. maybe that will give them a clue when they can’t read the word on it.
You misspellerated ‘skule’. Thet’s whar yule go to do yer Inhofe voterating.
;>)
cee whot a nize perzon i iz? i’s gaved ’em bennyfit ov teh dowt. 🙂
Ding dang, yoo sayd ‘dowt’. Cain’t nevvar dowt, nize anhall yoo iz. Gawt too beeleeve them smartee fellers wut gawt hee-lecterated 2 doo grate deids. Thay kin reed the GUD BHOOK.
;>)
ah’z sorree! ah’ll trye too doo bettar.
I actually read the original report. It was distressing. The conservatives who funded it were appalled. Of course, some on the right might just use it as more “evidence” that public education has failed. Sigh.
rethugs kill things and then act appalled that they’re dead.
“Crocodile tears” is an expression that should be used more often.
emphasis on the croc! 🙄
I bet if they were asked who was last week’s
” Idle Amerikan” (spelling errors intended), they would know the correct answer!
they’ll vote for tom delay, even after he gets kicked off dancing with the stars. 🙄
Ahhh Dances with Felons…. a new show!
there are plenty to pick from. though, i can live without seeing duke cunningham in spandex and sequins.
Although I appreciate your partisan take on this and by no means am I a fan of the two from OK there is a bigger truth here that both sides need to care about.
In Mass. the HS student graduates with a 10th grade education. Do we attack Kerry and the late Kennedy for that ?
Sadly way too many Americans score badly on that test. How sick is that? Also there is no lack of stories,articles and studies testifying to the fact that a number of our college level students suck at basic history and civics.
Just thought I owed the Raisins a visit. Hope all is well.
Your Right of Center friend (honest)
Alfie
hey alfie! 🙂
long time, no see, my friend.
you may be surprised to find that i don’t disagree with you. i think the state of american education is terrible. there are some excellent public schools, but a lot of terrible ones as well. there are many different reasons. in many places, the problem is money. the kids are poor, malnourished, and unsafe. they worry more about getting to school alive than about doing their homework. overall, however, i think the problem is the lack of focus. before anything else, school should be about learning the basics–reading, math, science, and history. leave the politics out of the classroom, and just let the teachers teach.
As a Texan, I can say with absolute certainty that Oklahoma has all the negatives of Texas, only without the humor.
I’m totally Oklahomophobic.
I know a few Oklahomans and let me tell you, grammar and teeth are at a real premium.
It’s no wonder their politicians are douche bags.
i’ve never been to oklahoma and don’t have much of a desire to go there. stay tuned, karen. tonight’s post is all about texas.
Go easy on us.
Our gay governor will be gone soon enough.
you know i’m always kind. 😉
since we would rather spend trillions on wars and defense shields and bailouts (yeah John Wayne and Gordon Gekko!)
and not one wooden nickel on education and health care (boring.)
what do you expect?
and i bet the kids in oklahoma are proud of their ignorance! — remember being smart is bad these days – people don’t like smart people – the teabaggers LOVE sarah and HATE barack.
looking at their 2 senators, i assume that being stupid and/or insane is the best way to get ahead in oklahoma.
It’s Inhofe’s Oklahoma, is it not? Inhofe’s Oklahoma — kids getting beat up on basic knowledge now. I mean, you put your kids in a school, you expect learning, but in Inhofe’s Oklahoma, the kids now get beat up on standardized testing with the kids from other state’s cheering, “Yeah, right on, right on, right on!”
i think inhofe is certifiably insane. i don’t know what the means about the people who vote for him. 🙄