Only 3 in 100 high-school students in Oklahoma could pass

a citizenship test

(OKLAHOMA CITY, September 16)--Only one in four public high-school students in Oklahoma can name the first President of the United States.

This is one of the many unsettling findings of a survey commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) to coincide with Constitution Day, which will be observed tomorrow.

OCPA commissioned a national research firm, Strategic Vision, to determine Oklahoma public high-school students' level of basic civic knowledge. The firm's surveys have been used by Time, Newsweek, and USA Today, and National Journal's "Hotline" has cited them as some of the most accurate in the country. The margin of error for this particular survey is plus/minus 3 percent.

Students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship are required to answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens. According to the USCIS, the first-try passing rate is 92 percent.

In this survey, the passing rate for Oklahoma's public high-school students was 2.8 percent.

"In that miracle at Philadelphia 222 years ago, the Framers gave us a document which they hoped would secure our freedoms," said OCPA vice president Brandon Dutcher. "But they knew that only a well-informed citizenry could remain free. If these survey results are any indication, we are very much a nation at risk."

An analysis of the survey results appears in the September issue of Perspective, OCPA's monthly magazine.

OCPA is a think tank which formulates and promotes public policies based on the principles of free enterprise and limited government.

For more information, contact Brandon Dutcher at 405.602.1667 or brandon at ocpathink dot org.

 

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