Friday, June 22, 2012
Commentators have long speculated about what such a decisive lack of confidence in our nation’s most powerful and ubiquitous institutions means. Many point out that, while the causes of infinite and infinitely complex, the consequences of such rampant distrust will only undermine institutions further. “This remarkable level of distrust in America’s leading public institutions charged with safeguarding the American Dream is deeply troublesome..."
Sunday, June 17, 2012
That's as much of an indictment of public school instruction as it is American society's apathy toward civic responsibility. Earlier this year, Xavier University's Center for the Study of the American Dream released a national survey of native-born citizens' responses to the civics portion of the naturalization test. A third couldn't answer the six out of 10 questions necessary to pass. "If the pass rate were [7] out of 10, one half of all native-born citizens would fail," the report noted...
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Fifty years ago, the city of Detroit embodied the American dream. As home to the nation’s automotive manufacturers and a thriving musical center, the Motor City exemplified the can-do spirit of American industrial and cultural production. Today, Detroit can barely keep the lights on – literally. To cut costs, the city is considering plans to reduce the number of streetlights by half. Local residents probably won’t notice, though, since about 40 percent of the lights are already broken...
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Nearly a third of Americans would get a big fat “F” on a citizenship test, according to a new study. The lack of knowledge mostly pertains to civics questions. The Center for the American Dream at Xavier University came up these findings via a survey that posed 10 random questions from the actual citizenship exam to 1,000 Americans who were 18 and older. The questionnaire found that most citizens that were born here “do well” on basic questions about history and geography...
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Here are three very simple questions that any American proud of his or her heritage should have no trouble answering: Who is the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives? How many justices sit on the U.S. Supreme Court? What is the supreme law of the land? If you aced these, take a bow. According to Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream, about a third of native-born Americans in a survey failed one or more of these questions...
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
This year’s questions on basic U.S. civics and government were based on a new study by the Center for the Study of the American Dream. It asked native-born Americans the same questions asked to foreign-born immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship. Immigrants must get at least six of the 10 questions correct, and 93 percent of them do, according to the study. When native-born U.S. voters were asked those 10 questions, only two thirds of them could correctly answer six out of 10...
Friday, May 4, 2012
A new survey by the Center for the American Dream at Xavier University found nearly one-third of Americans would fail a citizenship test. The survey asked Over 10 random questions from the actual exam to 1,000 Americans over the age of 18. The study noted, "While native-born citizens do well on basic questions related to history and geography, the results reveal a low level of knowledge concerning the principles and features of American government that underlie our civic life."...
Friday, May 4, 2012
With a pass rate that high, you might wonder if the test is too easy. But according to a new study released last week, one-third of native-born U.S. citizens couldn’t score the 60 percent needed to pass the test. If the pass rate were 7 out of 10, Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream said, one half of native-born Americans would fail...
Friday, May 4, 2012
According to an American survey, more than one third of U.S. citizens would fail the country’s citizenship test for immigrants. The study, conducted by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University, in Cincinnati, Ohio, found that one in three respondents would fail the civics portion of the test given to those applying for U.S. citizenship...
Thursday, May 3, 2012
A survey has found that around one third of U.S. citizens would fail the country's citizenship test for immigrants. The study, conducted by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University, in Cincinnati, Ohio, found that one in three respondents would fail the civics portion of the test given to those applying for U.S. citizenship...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Un estudio elaborado por la Universidad de Xavier, de Ohio, reveló que el examen para la ciudadanía que mide los conocimientos sobre educación cívica no sería aprobado por el 33 por ciento de los estadounidenses. Los resultados de la investigación aparecen en medio de campañas que promueven la ciudadanía para que los naturalizados se inscriban y voten en los comicios presidenciales del martes 6 de noviembre...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A survey conducted by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University found that about a third of citizens would fail the civics portion of the standard test given to immigrants applying for citizenship. Over 1,000 Americans over the age of 18 were asked 10 random questions from the actual exam. Thirty-five percent of people were able to answer five or less correctly...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Is it a serving of humble pie? The best proof yet that America has watered down teaching about its own history? Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” come to life? Or just a chance to tease your brain? However you perceive it, recent findings that more new immigrants than native-born Americans can pass a basic civics test offers several points to ponder – including some obligatory “show what you know” sample questions...
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
These questions stumped one of three native-born U.S. citizens who failed the civics portion of the naturalization test, according to a new national study released last week. That contrasts with the high pass rate of about 97 percent among immigrants applying for citizenship, according to Cincinnati-based Xavier University. The university’s Center for the Study of the American Dream conducted the survey earlier this year, polling about 1,000 people who were born in America...
Monday, April 30, 2012
A new study by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University confirms what we already know: Americans perform poorly on the U.S. Citizenship test. The new findings reveal some pretty alarming statistics: One in three native-born citizens fail the civics portion of the naturalization test, in stark contrast to the 97.5% pass rate among immigrants applying for citizenship. (To pass, one must answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly.)...
Monday, April 30, 2012
Immigrants desiring American citizenship must pass a naturalization test demonstrating basic civic literacy. 97.5 percent of immigrants pass this test. Xavier University's Center for the Study of the American Dream undertook a survey to learn details of the civic literacy rate of native-born Americans measured identically by the same test. Our work over the last three years has consistently reinforced the strong American belief in the relationship between the American Dream and freedom...
Friday, April 27, 2012
The one line of defense critics use to denounce issues like the DREAM Act or in-state tuition for undocumented students or allowing undocumented parents to stay with their families while their deportation cases are being heard is that the critics are only following the “rule of law.” Yet a revealing new study by Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream finds that most of these critics would find it difficult to explain the rule of law...
Friday, April 27, 2012
Hope you were paying attention in your high school social studies class. Apparently, one in three native-born Americans would fail a 10-question civics test given to immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship. 97.5 percent of immigrants pass the test, which asks basic questions about American history and government. Xavier University took a telephone poll to get these results...
Friday, April 27, 2012
A recent study conducted by Xavier University shows that one in three native born Americans failed the civics portion of the U.S. naturalization test. That's in contrast to the 97.5% of immigrants applying for citizenship who pass the test. The nationwide survey tested adult Americans on 10 random questions taken directly from the naturalization test...
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship have to pass a 10-question civics test asking basic questions about American history and government, and about 93% succeed. But only 65% of native-born Americans could get the required six out of 10 right answers when asked the same questions in a telephone poll.
That's the finding from the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University in Cincinnati, which commissioned the telephone survey of 1,023 native-born Americans last month...
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The American Dream gained a little strength in March. In a sign of rising consumer confidence, Xavier University’s Xavier University monthly American Dream Composite Index increased 0.8 percent last month to 64.24. That’s the index’s highest reading since September, as it climbed from 63.73 in February. The gains were largely about the economy, although four of the index’s five components rose last month. The American Dream Economic Index led the way, gaining 1.3 percent...
Monday, April 2, 2012
The “American Dream” has come to mean everything from home ownership to financial well-being to just plain happiness. Now it’s the focus of research at Xavier University’s Williams College of Business, where economics professor Amit Sen helped create The American Dream Composite Index (ADCI). The monthly statistical report measures the extent to which people living in the U.S. achieve the dream...
Monday, March 26, 2012
I am honored to present this issue for three reasons. First, like many Americans, I have reacted with a mix of concern, disbelief, and resolve as scholars and pundits have debated intensely whether America’s power relative to China and other emerging nations is in decline. The United States, the story goes, cannot keep pace with China because...
Friday, March 23, 2012
In fact, in a January essay in the Washington Post, Michael F. Ford identified five common assumptions about the American Dream that he says are myths. If anyone should know, he should. Ford is the founding director of a scholarly center that studies nothing but the American Dream, at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has even completed two national surveys of Americans’ attitudes about the “Dream,” with a third in the works...
Monday, March 19, 2012
A new report from the Center for the Study of the American Dream shows that even while Americans distrust the government, they have faith in the American Dream. Michael Ford, founding director of Xavier University's Center for the Study of the American Dream, will join The Daily Circuit Monday to discuss the report...
