Fourth of July Quiz

[Ronin]

I heard something funny/sad on the radio yesterday.  A "man on the street" radio segment with the following questions (of Americans (not first generation) between 25 and 35 years old).

1. What is the holiday July 4th?

2. What are we celebrating independence from?

3. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

4. What is the war fought for that reason called?

Some of the answers were amazing.

One said that we were celebrating independence from Europe (try England).
A _teacher_ answered that our war for independence was WWI (the Revolutionary War) and that the Declaration was written by Abraham Lincoln (sigh - it was Thomas Jefferson).  At least, she only teaches kindergarten.
One person said that our war for independence was the civil war (85 years late).
One person said the Declaration was written by George Washington (right era).
One person said that we fought the French for our independence (they helped us).
One person had no idea what the war was called or who wrote the Declaration or who we fought in the war.  He at least knew the Declaration was written and signed in 1776 and that John Hancock was the first signer.

I guarantee you that anyone in my high school graduating class (1976) would get all four of those questions right and would probably give you many more details.  I guess they really don't teach history in school anymore.

The frightening thing is that these people probably vote...

[MaddGIJoe]

I got all but 1 and that was the name of the war, but thats pretty good for 1:30 in the morning right?

I actually had a pretty good history teacher back in the 8th grade (when we learned all of this).

[Lazerblade]

I got all but one correct also, but I don't recall any of my history teachers even bringing up who wrote the declaration. There was barely mention of who signed it. I think I learned more about that segment of history from storybooks and movies than I did from actual schooling. Our education system seems to center on minimalistic education for the sole purpose of testing, where the answers are taught but the meaning isn't.

It's a good thing the government is preparing us to be autonamous worker drones instead of thinking people. That's the only way we'll be able to prevent further importing of mass-produced junk.

Oh wait. With our economy, that's inevitable. Who designs the education system again? Must be post-graduate schools, because they're the ones making a profit. And they still fall short of bringing us up to speed. Only life and socialization can do that. Half the education an average person receives is from family and friends. The other half is a combination of mixed media and school. And school just gives you enough information to make the intelligent and curious want to find out more, and the unintelligent and lazy capable of barely passing the tests they're subject to.

Bah! Education is such a mislabelled life affair. Real life is more educating.

[BajaBravo]

I got them all right but I had to read that last question three times before I understood it. Lol.

[Da Fish]

hell, i get three out of four and im from the country you sought independence from!!

(for the record the only one i dont know is the people who wrote the decleration of independence. gut instinct tells me jefferson was part of it but i dont know for sure!)

[farmboy]

Four out of four.  Many of jefferson's words were taken from/paraphrased Thomas Payne's "Common Sense".  HA!
AP history was an amazing class.