creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I came across this quiz from Pew Research: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/ Try it... THEN look at this article that goes with it: http://www.people-press.org/2014/10/02/from-isis-to-unemployment-what-do-americans-know/ I found the lack of knowledge from the general populace - even about some MAJOR topics going on right now - to be a little on the scary side. I was a little less concerned with the lack of knowledge on a couple of questions, but overall... BE SURE TO INCLUDE WORLD NEWS in your homeschooling (at least some at all ages and quite a bit by the teenage years). We share this planet. We ought to know what's going on for the most part IMO. I shudder to think of what the responses would be for some questions I might have included... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I took the quiz. The 3 I got wrong were questions about AMERICA! :lol: Going for another cup of coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I don't live in the US. I got all the world ones correct but many of the US ones wrong :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmiraGulch Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Interesting. And this is, presumably, the voting public. ETA: I missed one, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 You scored better than 86% of the public, below 8% and the same as 6%. I got 3 wrong. Two had a percent as answers and I was pretty sure I'd miss those. The other was also a finance question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I took the quiz. The 3 I got wrong were questions about AMERICA! :lol: Going for another cup of coffee. I missed two - both American... I guess more are about American news than other, but it's folks not knowing some of the others that bugs me more so perhaps that's why I harped on it. I thought they were trying to trick us on the spending one since Social Security is technically its own funding - not general tax dollars - so I guessed interest on the debt. Then I got the percent below the poverty line wrong. I guessed too high. I was happy to be wrong on that one! But how can anyone not know about ISIS/ISIL at this point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got 8 out of 12 correct. ETA: I'm not surprised that the General population had a hard time with this quiz. I think the Hive is likely to score higher than average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I don't live in the US. I got all the world ones correct but many of the US ones wrong :D I can forgive you if you don't know American stats or what North Dakota's recent boom is all about. ;) Interesting. And this is, presumably, the voting public. And this is what scares me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmiraGulch Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 And this is what scares me... On the other hand, since most of those eligible won't vote anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmiraGulch Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I thought they were trying to trick us on the spending one since Social Security is technically its own funding - not general tax dollars - so I guessed interest on the debt. I missed the same one, and with the same incorrect answer, for the same reason. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed 3. I missed the NDakota one, the Federal Minimum Wage one (yikes!) and the one about what we spend the most on in America. I watch France 24 for world news, along with the CBS "world" news. It's amazing, the difference between the two. I abhor the amount of fluff in our "world" news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriede Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I'm surprised that I got 11/12! Some where guesses though... My news sources are DH, the Hive, my National Geographic subscription (that's how I knew about N Dakota), and sometimes NPR radio and their news app. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I think the Hive is likely to score higher than average. This is what I expect too. I think it's part of why many of us are drawn to the Hive - we may not all agree, but we tend to be pretty well informed and learn from each other via various threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Whew. I only missed 1, so I was happy about that. One thing I've noticed is that the online news source I've been frequenting for more than a decade recently took the World News heading from its front page. To get to World News now, you have to click on a News header and then on to World News. I thought that was an odd shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed the same one, and with the same incorrect answer, for the same reason. :D Me too. :) I also missed the one about North Dakota. I had no idea and oil seemed too obvious so I guessed soybeans. :) I got all the others right. I actually don't think of myself as particularly well-informed about current events so it surprised me that I did well. I would do abysmally on a pop culture quiz though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I thought they were trying to trick us on the spending one since Social Security is technically its own funding - not general tax dollars - so I guessed interest on the debt. This is the one I missed, too, and I chose the same answer as you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I abhor the amount of fluff in our "world" news. What's not to like? The 60 seconds where they try to fit in 6 or 7 headlines or all the things they filter out for us as non-stories so we don't waste time on them? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I would do abysmally on a pop culture quiz though. I'd forfeit that one before even taking it. Pretty much any correct answer would be a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed three, one of them a US one. Yeah, I'm always disappointed when I think about how much the voting public really knows. I haven't heard about France 24 world news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 You scored better than 86% of the public, below 8% and the same as 6%. I got 3 wrong. Two had a percent as answers and I was pretty sure I'd miss those. The other was also a finance question. We got the same score and it sounds like we got similar ones wrong! How ironic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed three. The one about federal debt, the poverty level and Israel's prime minister (I knew it was an English type name but I picked the wrong one) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I thought they were trying to trick us on the spending one since Social Security is technically its own funding - not general tax dollars - so I guessed interest on the debt. Then I got the percent below the poverty line wrong. I guessed too high. I was happy to be wrong on that one! Same here including my guess of interest on the debt and guessing too high for the poverty rate. The other one I missed was the unemployment rate. I knew it had gone down, but apparently not as far down as my answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 11 of 12. I missed the one about which Muslim country was predominately Shia. I agree the question about government spending/SS was a bit misleading and subject to interpretation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got four wrong. All about the US. As a Canadian I don't vote anyway. ;) As a prairie girl who recently lived in North Dakota during the housing shortage, I know all the boom. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 The quiz writer's use of "predominately" in one of the questions really irritated me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Lulu* Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed the same one, and with the same incorrect answer, for the same reason. :D I missed that one for the same reason as well! I also missed one because I was under caffeinated. The moment I saw the answer I groaned because I did know it. I missed the ND one and the unemployment rate as well. The unemployment one I couldn't remember if the lat number released was 7 or 8 percent and ended up rounding the wrong direction. My main sources of news are, in order of use: The Hive Think Progress NPR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 11 of 12. I missed the one about which Muslim country was predominately Shia. I agree the question about government spending/SS was a bit misleading and subject to interpretation. That's the one I missed. And I agree on the govt spending one. I got it right but I debated as I wasn't sure where they were going with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I abhor the amount of fluff in our "world" news. I'm still shaking my head at a recent TIME "news" story about Mercury Retrograde. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got 10/12, better than 92%. That's better than I was expecting! I don't consider myself a news buff at all. The kids and I have gotten into the habit of watching CNN student news every morning at breakfast on the iPad. It's not the best news source ever - I also like public radio and BBC online. But just watching that 10 minute CNN broadcast has been really good for all us in terms of having headlines and general stories anyway. The format drives my 13 year old nuts. LOL. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed 2 I got the Israeli prime minister wrong because I thought Netanyahu would have been TOO EASY, so it had to be Sharon (who is, alas, dead) And I honestly did not know that Social security costs more than debt interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed the ones with percentages-possibly because the numbers are so frequently fudged, err, adjusted. :glare: I'm not surprised by the results, though. Nothing surprises me after having read this article. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got 8 out of 12 correct. ETA: I'm not surprised that the General population had a hard time with this quiz. I think the Hive is likely to score higher than average. Agree! I got 9 of 12 correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got three US ones wrong - North Dakota, minimum wage and.... One other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed two - both American... I guess more are about American news than other, but it's folks not knowing some of the others that bugs me more so perhaps that's why I harped on it. I thought they were trying to trick us on the spending one since Social Security is technically its own funding - not general tax dollars - so I guessed interest on the debt. Then I got the percent below the poverty line wrong. I guessed too high. I was happy to be wrong on that one! These are also the two that I missed. I put the same thing down for government spending. (And for the same reasoning.) Then I guessed too high for the poverty line. (And was also happy to be wrong about that one!) I don't follow the news. I don't see out the news. I don't watch it, I don't read it, I don't listen to it. (Nor do I vote, a nod to the comment up thread.) My kids are aware of what's going on in the world. They hear it at school, scouts, sports ... they discuss it with friends, family, and each other ... I'm going to give them this quiz later tonight. Thank you for linking to it and its article. I know it's scary what little some of us know about the news. Or worse, how little interest some of us have in the news. But I feel my score is acceptable and hope I get a pass :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithful_Steward Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 11/12 I chose interest on the debt instead of ss. If that was a pop culture quiz I'd be in trouble. :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have complicated thoughts on this.fwiw, I got 10/12 (botched your unemployment & budget expenditures) but I'm kind of unhappy about that because I'm trying to AVOID news.I'm a poli sci grad & a news junkie. We've had an Economist subscription for decades. Most of my twitter feed is politics & int'l relations.I have been actively trying to STOP paying attn to news because of this:http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli& his long essay on this subject: http://www.dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Avoid_News_Part1_TEXT.pdfI also like Stef Lewandowski's essay on the News Diet https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/ignore-the-news-297e47e6f78bIn my defense of the silly high score, the q about Ukraine is history, not current events. Israel's pm has been in power for 5 yrs so also not really current....The Sunni & Shia q - oh heavens - that's really old news, isn't it?Common Core I only know about because US homeschoolers complain about it. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Is this part of your cable package or is it free? Dawn I got 10/12, better than 92%. That's better than I was expecting! I don't consider myself a news buff at all. The kids and I have gotten into the habit of watching CNN student news every morning at breakfast on the iPad. It's not the best news source ever - I also like public radio and BBC online. But just watching that 10 minute CNN broadcast has been really good for all us in terms of having headlines and general stories anyway. The format drives my 13 year old nuts. LOL. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got 2 wrong. I guessed Saudi Arabia when it was Iran. I chose Greenspan when it was Yellen. I don't follow the news very closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 You scored better than 96% of the public, below 1% and the same as 3%. 11 out of 12 correct. Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 11/12 I chose interest on the debt instead of ss. If that was a pop culture quiz I'd be in trouble. :coolgleamA: Me too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Is this part of your cable package or is it free? Dawn CNN Student News is free. I have ds watch it too. You can watch it on a computer or mobile device. We don't have cable or satellite btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have been actively trying to STOP paying attn to news because of this: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli & his long essay on this subject: http://www.dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Avoid_News_Part1_TEXT.pdf I also like Stef Lewandowski's essay on the News Diet https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/ignore-the-news-297e47e6f78b Those were very interesting reads, thank you! Maybe I'll start saying those are the reasons I avoid news. Sounds better than "I can barely manage my own micro level living. There's no way I could handle things at the macro level." :D There is good food for thought in the mentality of those links. Same as why we might avoid genres of television, movie, music, reads. Why not apply those filters to news, as well? I think it doesn't occur to many of us. Feels sort of like a light bulb moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have complicated thoughts on this. fwiw, I got 10/12 (botched your unemployment & budget expenditures) but I'm kind of unhappy about that because I'm trying to AVOID news. ... In my defense of the silly high score, the q about Ukraine is history, not current events. Israel's pm has been in power for 5 yrs so also not really current.... The Sunni & Shia q - oh heavens - that's really old news, isn't it? Common Core I only know about because US homeschoolers complain about it. LOL And that's what bothers me, I think. One really doesn't have to be paying much attention to know most of those - yet the average score (not average Hive score) is pitifully low. Where do these people hide? I expected the questions to be far more in depth than they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I'm trying to unplug right now but afraid my score won't be as low as I want it to be, lol. dxh says that not keeping up with the news has done wonders for his blood pressure and anxiety--no more meds! He's kind evangelical about it and all the more annoying because I know he's right but I just. can't. do. it. Part of my problem is that I'm more likely to get my news from the internet than a paper or the TV so it's kind of mooshed together with my social time and adult intellectual stimulation. I know I'd enjoy curling up with a good book after school and housework are done and going to Mom's Night Out once a month a lot more than excessive internet usage, but old habits are hard to break. I'm a former activist, so more likely to loose sleep and needlessly stress myself out over local issues I used to be involved with than isis or ebola. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 CNN Student News is free. I have ds watch it too. You can watch it on a computer or mobile device. We don't have cable or satellite btw. Same here. We usually watch it through the Safari browser on the iPad. But you can watch it in any internet browser ... http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/ We don't have cable or satellite either. And I refuse to watch our cheesy local news. I get local news online too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I got 11/12. Missed the poverty level question- I thought it was higher than it is. I can't believe three percent got zero right. I mean, even if you guessed on every single one, you should get at least one or two right just by luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Welp, I'll admit it - I missed 6. It said I scored better than 58% of others, but that's still terrible on my end. I missed every question that had to do with the name of another person, and the question about N. Dakota. I also missed the question asking about what the US spends the most money on. No matter how frequently we watch the news, and I read the news (at least once daily), I will never be able to remember the names of people in power of other countries (with the exception of Putin, I'm not sure why, but he's an easy name to remember for me). I am notoriously terrible about names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I have been actively trying to STOP paying attn to news because of this: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli & his long essay on this subject: http://www.dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Avoid_News_Part1_TEXT.pdf I never used to watch the news because it made me so unhappy and I became one of the many uninformed in the U.S. The year we did modern history in our homeschool, I noticed that I had lived through many events in our history book and I could say to my kids, "I remember when The Wall came down." I realized it's important for kids to have memories of what's going on in the world while they're kids. That's when we discovered CNN student news. I like it. It gives us the basics of the big news events around the world (a tiny bit) and in the U.S., but not enough to make us all sad and depressed. Wait, I take that back. It does bother my 12 year old. He gets a bit droopy through parts of the news when it's bad news. We've been watching for a year and a half now and I got 9 out of 12 right. Pretty impressive for someone who knew NOTHING only a year and a half ago. But, I did guess on the ND one. I figured no one really cares about ND unless it has to do with oil. (Sorry if you live in ND--I mean, no one cares about any particular state unless it's something big, like cars or oil or something. Soybeans don't get you in the news.) And two of the ones I got wrong were because I changed my answer from the right one to the wrong one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 My results: You answered 12 of 12 questions correctly. See below to review your responses and compare results with a nationally representative sample of 1,002 adults who took part in our survey. For more findings from the survey, read "From ISIS to Unemployment: What Do Americans Know?" You scored better than 99% of the public and the same as 1%. I listen to one or two NPR affiliates about 2 hours a day (mostly in the morning while cooking breakfast and doing chores and often while driving). I listen to a few news related podcasts, mostly Radio Lab and Tavis Smiley. If I missed something I hear about it on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Other than that, I catch a tiny bit of WSJ and NYT online. I read through the Economist 3 months in 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I missed the poverty one - I genuinely had no clue, but was glad it was not the 25% I guessed. I guessed on the spending one - I wasn't sure if it was Social Security or interest on the debt. I certainly knew it wasn't transportation or foreign aid though. Apparently a lot of people chose foreign aid. That's one where it's like... that wrong answer reveals more about what's wrong with our level of understanding of the news. Sigh. On this quiz (which they've done before) I generally find the US questions harder because they often involve numbers (the amount of the minimum wage, the percentage of poverty, etc.) which I have a terrible head for and financial news (like the head of the fed, though that I knew...) which I don't follow so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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