Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy!
This quiz has been making the rounds. I found the test almost insultingly easy– then again, I majored in Poli-sci, and minored in History (and also Religion).
I found many of the questions poorly worded and in many cases a bit silly.
For instance “16) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. :” The answer they want is so watered down from the truth that it’s almost a lie.
Or “29) A flood-control levee (or National Defense) is considered a public good because:”
Again, poorly worded question. The parenthetical aside seems to indicate that Levees are part of the National Defense, rather than indicating that they are both types of what economists call “public goods”.
A “public good” is one which it is impossible to prevent an individual from taking advantage of. You can’t have a flood which takes out _just_ one house. At least, not on purpose. Asking an opposing military to attack the one house on the block which failed to pay it’s military bill would be.. well, amusing.
“31) International trade and specialization most often lead to which of the following?” The concept they’re looking for is “comparative advantage”, and they’re asking in a _very_ clumsy way.
Does it really matter if we remember whether it was 1962 or 1963 that the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Berlin Wall went up?
Also: why is are key economic terms more important to civil society than, say, Labor history? Or science terms? I think that, in order to be a productive member of our Democracy, you need to have basic knowledge of geography. Why aren’t there any geography questions? The 21st century requires basic technical knowledge. Can we get some questions on automotive maintenance?
This test seems almost designed to fail most people. I wonder what this group is selling…
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