33% of American eighth-graders think Canada, Australia, and France are dictatorships - Polidicks

I knew people in 8th grade who could not point out France on a map, so I can see that this is possible.

to be fair school curriculums don't talk about current events much most of the info they get is from dinner table talk between adults about the news, which has a pretty high chance of being absolutely stupid and uninformed

Hey, if you guys want to send some drones after Harper and Abbott I don't think many of us would really mind.

[QUOTE=Kommodore;47754021]if not the university then most faculties require a C- or equivalent GPA in order to be awarded a major/minor[/QUOTE] That's a GPA vs class thing. D is totally a pass if its just a single class. A D [i]GPA[/i] is usually grounds for probation.

[QUOTE=Levelog;47753967]70%? Generally speaking 60%+ is a D, which is passing. [editline]18th May 2015[/editline] Granted it depends on system.[/QUOTE] Most use 60% as passing. Just barely though.

I have this feeling that they may be getting "dictatorship" mixed up with "socialist." In some parts of America, they practically mean the same thing :v:

You dont even have to learn in school that Australia and Canada aren't dictatorships, fuck me its pretty hard to not know that

[QUOTE=Zeke129;47753966]Oops, I don't spend a lot of time learning about how grades work in foreign dictatorships[/QUOTE] Obama said he'd make anime real if he became dictator-for-life, how could we pass up that offer?

Well, here in Norway, 33% is a passing grade, so... Everyone passed!

Australia is a dictatorship though. All hail the mighty Tony Abbott!

It's not really surprising in the end when it come to some people. I've met 13 year olds who didn't know which side Hitler fought on in the war.

I wasn't taught government until Senior year. Seriously. Although that has it's benefits. You leave high school and enter the voting system fully educated on how it works with no buffer time to forget. Nonetheless, i had great teachers all through high school for the most part. My Gov. teacher was particularly great. He was right-wing in his beliefs but he always took his time to explain exactly what each side of the political spectrum believed in, especially all the various governments of the world, and gave us the chance to decide what we thought was best by only giving the facts, no fluff. He didn't make his class menial or tedious. He prioritized making sure we learned as much as possible, giving us plenty of time and resources, and put the testing second, only when he knew we were ready. While he disagreed with the core beliefs of communism he made a point to tell us exactly what communism was, and why it could work and why it didn't. And, well. He told great stories. I don't think 8th graders are particularly a great level to check for this sort of thing because they haven't learned ANY higher level world history or government studies. The only way any of them would know the right information is by learning through extraneous means. Sophomores would be a good survey level because by then theyd either be in the middle of World History II or have finished it already. They would definitely know the answer then.

I read Afghanistan in the title and got kinda disappointed, and then it turned out to on a completely different plane of shit.

[QUOTE]Asked on a national standardized test what the current governments of the three countries have in common, 23 per cent of the 29,000 teens tested chose “they have leaders with absolute power” from the four options available. Another 10 per cent chose “they are controlled by the military” while 12 per cent picked “they discourage participation by citizens in public affairs[/QUOTE] Actually it just looks like they designed the test poorly. Something any half decent sociologist could have pointed out. What a fucking joke.

[QUOTE=XxThreedogxX;47754203]I can't say I'm surprised. I mean have you even talked to a kid that age? You could totally see how this is possible.[/QUOTE] I've talked to many kids that age, and none of them were dumb enough to believe that Canada was a dictatorship. I seriously have no idea where researchers find these people.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;47753945]Probably because we only learn about small snippets of their history and nothing about their modern society.[/QUOTE] Even then, do you guys really think so little of us that whether or not we're a democracy or not is something that requires serious thought?

[QUOTE=Ehmmett;47754025]Children also think the moon is made of cheese, so. [editline]18th May 2015[/editline] oh shit this is 8th graders oh my god[/QUOTE] I had to read an 8th grader's essay about the Anerican Revolution once, and in it she said that it that it was fought by the two US Colonies - the North and the South. I wish I could be fucking joking, and she's the 8th grade class president for my brother's class.

god damn that dictator abbott, when's he gonna give us our freedom?

[QUOTE=GunFox;47755184]Actually it just looks like they designed the test poorly. Something any half decent sociologist could have pointed out. What a fucking joke.[/QUOTE] ...Are [i]any[/i] of those answers correct?

Well that makes sense. Have you ever been to Canada?

[QUOTE=catbarf;47755894]...Are [i]any[/i] of those answers correct?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Fifty four per cent chose the right answer: They have constitutions that limit their power.[/QUOTE]

Britain you get your 13 colonies back as a part of re-education

[QUOTE=LVL FACTORY;47756666]Britain you get your 13 colonies back as a part of re-education[/QUOTE] The majority of the US cessions were either French or Mexican though.

SIEG HEIL HARPER. GLORIOUS LEADER OF THE NORTH STRONG AND F̶R̶E̶E̶! [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wTy3zdq.jpg[/IMG]

The kids aren't wrong

I didn't learn anything about foreign governments in any of my public schooling. American history courses only talk about the rest of the world during WW I (WWII gets more domestic focus than foreign, surprisingly). In middle school, I had a "Civic Studies" class that basically told you it's your responsibility to vote in elections (which none of us gave a shit about at the time because we were all 5-6 years away from being able to register) and emphasized the balance of powers in the federal government. (Should note that state governments and local governments were not mentioned [I]at all[/I] despite the fact that those affect Americans more often than federal).

Under Abbott Australia is a dictatorship.

Nah man, Australia is even worse. I mean, have you even [I]seen[/I] Mad Max?

[QUOTE=deadoon;47753955]54% is an F in the US. You need to get 70% to pass.[/QUOTE] I'm just going off from what you and Zeke said (and the article says the same thing actually). He said 54% of students got the correct answer. That tells you nothing about how much percent they scored in the test. Unless in the US passing a test depends on how many people from the group get a passing score.

heads-up: you literally barely are learning US Government and civics by 8th grade. what the fuck did they expect?