and even MORE embarrassing results
happy independence day america!
land of the free, home of the brave stupid
More than one-quarter don’t know who US gained independence from
Every Fourth of July, Americans gather to celebrate the country's declaration of independence from ... um, what country was that again?
If you answered the above question with the word "England" or "Britain," you would be obviously correct. But a new Marist poll finds that more than a quarter -- 26 percent -- of Americans polled couldn't bring to mind the name of the country from whom the original 13 colonies gained independence.
Results were especially poor among the young: Of respondents aged 18 to 29, only 60 percent correctly identified Great Britain. A full one-third were unsure.
Maybe history class was too long ago. Or maybe, as the New York Daily News would have it, Americans are "pretty dumb.".............
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4 comments:
Unsurprising, I suppose, that the northeast gets the highest percentage, while the southeast, whose historical obsessions are elsewhere, gets the lowest.
no, i wasn't surprised
Warning: Pedantry to follow --
Actually the reason I find it unsurprising, but also interesting, is that a few years back I had a conversation with a guy from Chicago, where I mentioned the prevalence of fife & drum corps, and he thought I was joking. Which is when I realized they really probably don't have them in the midwest, that they don't engage with that history very much, and how much historical "presence" depends on geography.
Now if only they could poll Tea Party members on the same question, we might have a ball-game.
i never thought about that, the midwest and fife and drum corps. i'm guessing you're right. they're NOT in every parade like they are here.
http://www.fifedrum.org/links.shtml
there are a few elsewhere across the country (yes, even in cal-i-forn-i-a) BUT way way way more than half of 'em line the total east coast
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