Among 1,200 students surveyed:
•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.
•52% could identify the theme of 1984.
•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.
In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.
One thousand, two hundred students surveyed and suddenly all high-schoolers are idiots. Granted, quite a few high-schoolers are, but nonetheless, I hardly think such a survey is valid. Perhaps reviewing certain demographics for ACT, SAT and different state's standardized test-scores would reveal more positive statistics.
My fondness for surveys is waning, and in light of the fact [of an opinion!] that it was never present to begin with, well. Tiny little surveys being taken seriously seems to be quite popular; I wonder if surveys have always been so misleading as they are recently?
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