Most Youth Polled Fail CAN History Test (But Want History as Mandatory Subject)

[The Bread Guy]

A couple of interesting Ipsos-Reid polls (if you put any stock in such things) just out...

Highlights from this one - Detailed Table 1 - Detailed Table 2 (all links to .pdf files): 

Eight in ten (82%) Canadians age 18 to 24 fail basic Canadian history exam –one point (1%) more than failed in 1997

Less than half of respondents (46%) could name Canada’s first P.M. and only one-quarter (26%) could give the date of Confederation

On the eve of Remembrance Day survey shows young peoples’ knowledge of Canada’s military heritage is up over last decade

Only five percent of respondents indicate that the test was “too hard” – one in ten embarrassed by their lack of knowledge


And some highlights from this one, different but complementary - Table 1 - Table 2 (all links to .pdf files):

While only four provinces require students to take a course dedicated to Canadian history to graduate, nine in ten ( 89%) 18 to 24 year olds think history should be a mandatory subject in every province

Half of young adults (54%) think history courses should focus on the history of ”Canada, the nation” as opposed to only one in ten (11%) who think that the history of their region should be paramount

Seven in ten (70%) young adults support the Dominion Institute’s recommendation that to graduate from high school students should be require to take the citizenship exam given to newcomers to Canada

Only one in ten (8%) young adults rank history as the academic subject that has most prepared them to succeed in their everyday life

 

[Shec]

Sample Question from the Citizenship Test:

Answer this question. Draw a circle around the letter beside the correct answer.

What are the colours of the Canadian flag?

red, white and blue
red and white
blue and white
red, orange and green

Gee, after 12-13 years in school let's not make it too tough for them.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/look/look-22.asp

 

[The Bread Guy]

Sample Question from the Citizenship Test:

Answer this question. Draw a circle around the letter beside the correct answer.

What are the colours of the Canadian flag?

red, white and blue
red and white
blue and white
red, orange and green

Gee, after 12-13 years in school let's not make it too tough for them.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/look/look-22.asp

And STILL many of them don't seem to get it.

If you're curious, here's the questions the pollsters asked - answers available on the first news release, in the tables at the end (the news release didn't mention who the other writers listed in the 1st Q were):

Name two Canadians contained in the following list of writers:
xxx
Emily Carr
xxx
xxx
Robert Service

Which country took control of Quebec, away from France, by winning the battle of the Plains of Abraham?

Who was Canada's first francophone PM?

What term is used to describe the severe economic hardships of the 1930s?

In the 19th century, some inhabitants of what is now Quebec rebelled against the colonial government of the time.  Who was the leader of that rebellion?

What was the name of the route to Canada taken by blacks escaping slavery in the United States?

Who was Canada's first PM?

Name one group of Canadians who were evacuated from the West Coast during WW 2 because of their ethnic origin?

What Canadian city was severely damaged by a massive explosion in its harbour in 1917?

In 1944, Canadians joined in an event called D-Day.  What happened on that day?

Remembrance Day in Canada falls on November 11.  November 11 was the last day of which war?

The battle of Vimy Ridge was an important victory for allied forces in what war?

In what year were all Canadian women eligible to vote in federal elections?

Many of the early settlers of what is now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia spoke French and were resettled by the British government.  What are those people and their descendants called?

The members of which ethnic group were once forced to pay a head tax to immigrate to Canada?

Name one of the wars in which Canada was invaded by the United States?

What is the name of the Mis leader who was hanged by the federal government in 1885?

What year did Confederation occur?

What economic issue between the U.S. and Canada dominated the Canadian Federal elections of 1891, 1911 and 1988?

What American war helped convince Canadians and their leaders to unite and form a federation in the north?

What name is commonly used to refer to British subjects who fled to Canada during the American revolution?

Name two countries Canada fought against in WW 1?

What term is commonly used to refer to early French fur traders in Canada?

Name the Canadian who received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1957 for his efforts to peacefully resolve the Suez crisis and then went on to become PM?

What is the name commonly given to the political and social movement that swept Quebec in the beginning of the 1960s?

What year was Canada's constitution patriated from Great Britain?

Name a Canadian who recieved the Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin?

What is the name of the native people of Newfoundland who were hunted to extinction by Europeans?[/list]

- edited to add questions -

 

[ex-Sup]

Even though I'm not responsible for teaching them all of this material, I know that my students should pass this test. News like this is disappointing, but some of us are trying our best one kid at a time 

 

[pbi]

As a side note, I just got back a few minutes ago from speaking at the Remembrance ceremony of one our local elementary schools. I was touched by how genuinely and seriously the students and teachers took the events. Obviously quite a lot of work had gone into preparing the ceremony, and the students were very conscientious in their speaking parts. After I spoke (I was asked to speak about Afghanistan) I took questions: there were dozens of hands up. This is about the seventh year I've been going to schools, and I'm always impressed by the same things.  While it might be true that kids don't know our history all that well, I believe that they do understand the importance of Remembrance Day, and they genuinely honour it. This recent survey result that shows a strong desire to learn more about our history can only be a good thing.

Cheers

 

[The Bread Guy]

While it might be true that kids don't know our history all that well, I believe that they do understand the importance of Remembrance Day, and they genuinely honour it. This recent survey result that shows a strong desire to learn more about our history can only be a good thing.

I guess that's a pretty good start - if they respect and are interested, they'll learn.

Thanks, too, for sharing - both here and with the next generation. 

 

[forcerecon85]

coming out of the current education system in 2003, I was much of the same. I aced the grade 10 Canadian History course after missing two months. That only covered 1900's to today, but I've forgotten a lot of it, except bits and pieces of our military history. I think its sad that I know more about US history though television and pop culture instead of learning Canadian history in school. I personally think that each year of high school should have a mandatory history class for each grade. How can we lead a country without knowing where we came from? Regarding Remembrance Day, kids can recognize someone fighting for their country and the sacrifice that comes with it, they know its important and know how serious it is, but most can't name details because its currently not required by the government. Also looking at the citizenship test, I'm ashamed that I'd probably get 60% on it, but like I said, I didn't have to know and hopefully we can change that. I think it would be a great idea to make students take the test in order to pass high school, let alone live in this great country of ours.

 

[X-mo-1979]

Who was Canada's first francophone PM?
In the 19th century, some inhabitants of what is now Quebec rebelled against the colonial government of the time.  Who was the leader of that rebellion?
What term is commonly used to refer to early French fur traders in Canada?
What is the name commonly given to the political and social movement that swept Quebec in the beginning of the 1960s?
- edited to add questions -

Honestly I would have never gotten those 4.Apparently I didnt learn too much about quebec in highschool I guess.

 

[Armymedic]

This is the one question of all above I do not know the answer to:

In the 19th century, some inhabitants of what is now Quebec rebelled against the colonial government of the time.  Who was the leader of that rebellion?

answer anyone?

 

[pbi]

Louis Joseph Papineau?

Cheers

 

[Armymedic]

Sounds right...excerpt from The Canadian Encyclopedia

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006069

Papineau and a small committee put forward their demands in the "Ninety-Two Resolutions," which demanded control of revenues by the legislature, for responsibility of the executive and for election of the council. When the demands were categorically rejected by the British in 1837 the political crisis deepened, popular feeling, inflamed by social and economic crises, was roused and Papineau began to lose control of the events he had been so instrumental in setting in motion. He addressed a rally of 4000 at ST-CHARLES, October 23 1837, at which the Patriotes more or less declared the independence of the Six Counties and their willingness to resort to arms if necessary. When after the defeat at St-Charles it became clear that the Patriotes would be crushed, he fled to the US and, following the failure of the second insurrection, he sailed for France in 1839.

Papineau's career, particularly his behaviour during the REBELLIONS OF 1837, has been a continuing source of controversy and conjecture. He claimed that he had taken no part in the insurrections, yet evidence shows he acted as supreme commander until the battle at ST-DENIS, from where he disappeared just before the fight was engaged. Later, many of his fellow Patriotes accused him of cowardice, though they continued to support him as the only viable leader of FRENCH CANADIAN NATIONALISM. He professed to be a liberal and republican, yet was a staunch defender of the SEIGNEURIAL SYSTEM, which had a feudal character, as the basis of French Canada's agricultural economy. He himself owned the seigneury of Petit Nation, purchased in 1817 from his father, and by all accounts demanded full measure from his habitants. He was an economic conservative, hostile to the commercial and transportation innovations that the merchants considered essential to progress in Lower Canada. Though a deist and a violent anticleric, he nevertheless feared that a weakening of the Catholic Church would play into the hands of the English-speaking Protestant enemies of French Canada.

 

[chanman]

Honestly I would have never gotten those 4.Apparently I didnt learn too much about quebec in highschool I guess.

Laurier
Coureur des bois or Voyageurs (not sure which one they're looking for)
Silent Revolution

Laurier I think was covered in Social Studies 10 or 11, Coureur des bois would be in Grade 9, Papineau again, grade 9 or 10.  Silent Revolution might not be covered.  Since the history portion of Social Studies proceeds chronologically, it would be in Social Studies 11 or History 12 if it was included at all.  History 12 is the only one of those classes that was optional in the BC curriculum as of about 5-6 years ago.

 

[Shec]

Louis Joseph Papineau?

Cheers

Hijack time.  I know this question more properly belongs on the Question of the Hour thread on the History forum but while the train of thought is on the tracks:

What famous British regiments, in garrison in Lower Canada at the time, suppressed Papineau's rebellion?

 

[midget-boyd91]

Without going to google or any others... off the memory part of my head:

1: Britain
2: ?? Trudeau ??
3: The Great Depression
4: Louis Joseph Papineu  (William Lyon MacKenzie led the rebellion in Upper Canada in the same year, 1838)
5: Underground Railroad
6: Sir John A MacDonald
7: Japanese
8: Halifax
9: The invasion of continental Europe from France in Normandy began.
10: First World War
11: First World War
12: ??
13: Acadiens
14: Chinese
15: American Revolution and War of 1812
16: Louis Riel
17: 1867
18: Free Trade
19: American Civil War
20: Loyalists
21: Germany and Hungary
22: ??
23: Diefenbaker
24: ??
25: 1982  ish?
26: Frank? Banting
27: ??


For having most of this not taught to me at all during school, and what was taught in school all combined into maybe one weeks worth of classes in late elementary in grades 5 or 6... I think I did decent enough, but then again most of my favorite books are history ones.

 

[The Bread Guy]

What famous British regiments, in garrison in Lower Canada at the time, suppressed Papineau's rebellion?

Google says one of them was the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
http://www.lightinfantry.org.uk/regiments/dcli/duke_books.htm

 

[Shec]

The Duke of Cornwalls indeed;  as were elements of the 1st, 24th , 66th, and 83rd Regiments of Foot , ie. Royal Scots, the South Wales Borderers, the Berkshires, and the Royal Irish Rangers respectively.

http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_425.asp

 

[ex-Sup]

I'll try this with my two Gr.10 history classes (one of which are pre-ap neophytes). Maybe I'll do it now and at the end of the semester (as I have not covered some of this material yet) and compare the results. Just for the heck of it, I'll try it with my Gr.11's and see what they remember from last year. I'll post the results.

 

[The Bread Guy]

I'll try this with my two Gr.10 history classes (one of which are pre-ap neophytes). Maybe I'll do it now and at the end of the semester (as I have not covered some of this material yet) and compare the results. Just for the heck of it, I'll try it with my Gr.11's and see what they remember from last year. I'll post the results.

Sounds cool.

A caveat on the Ipsos-Reid answers, though - they spelled the McLeod who was involved in the discovery of  insulin as "McCloud".

 

[Hawk]

I'm really not surprised at Ipsos misspelling. When I was there I happened to be in the break room when 3 script writers were there. One asked the others if the watershed was the same as the rain forest. The other 2 didn't know.


Hawk