Part One, American Government and U.S. Constitution

Lesson 22: Importance of an Educated Electorate

(Principle 23)	Name: _______________________

Part II: The Founders' Basic Principles –	28 Great Ideas that Changed the World

Lesson 22 Time: 36:15 [for Sunday, August 10, 2014]

The 5000 Year Leap: 23rd Principle, Reading Assignment: (pages 249-256);

Importance of an Educated Electorate

Lesson Supplemental Information:

1) Birth Rates of Unmarried Girls. 2) Violent crimes chart

3)STD Sexually Transmitted diseases 4) SAT scores

5) Family Stability – Single Parent Households

Charts/Notes

(1) Birth Rates of
Unmarried Girls

Adolescence Sexual

Activity for

<Men Women >

(2) Violent Crime Overall Increase since 1950

While it is encouraging to see that this problem is gradually decreasing overall, it is far from descending to the pre-1961 levels.

(3) STD http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/epid-std.html

Prior to 1960, there were only two significant sexually transmitted diseases: syphilis and gonorrhea. Both were easily treatable with antibiotics. In the sixties and seventies this relatively stable situation began to change. For example, in 1976, chlamydia first appeared in increasing numbers in the United States. Chlamydia, particularly dangerous to women, is now the most common STD in the country. Then in 1981, human immuno-
deficiency virus (HIV), the virus which causes AIDS, was identified. By early 1993, between 1 and 2 million Americans were infected with AIDS, over 12 million were infected worldwide, and over 160,000 had died in the U.S. alone. Over 10% of the total U.S. population, 30 million people, are infected with herpes.

In 1985, human papilloma virus (HPV), began to increase. This virus will result in venereal warts and will often lead to deadly cancers. In 1990, penicillin resistant-strain
s of gonorrhea were present in all fifty states.

By 1992 syphilis was at a 40-year high. As of 1993, pelvic inflammatory disease (PIV), which is almost always caused by gonorrhea or chlamydia, was affecting 1 million new women each year. This includes 16,000 to 20,000 teenagers. This complication causes pelvic pain and infertility and is the leading cause of hospitalization for women, apart from pregnancy, during the child-
bearing years.

Pelvic inflammatory disease can result in scarred fallopian tubes which block the passage of a fertilized egg. The fertilized egg, therefore, cannot pass on to the uterus and the growing embryo will cause the tube to rupture. By 1990, there was a 400% increase in tubal pregnancies, most of which were caused by STDs. Even worse is the fact that 80% of those infected with an STD don't know it and will unwittingly infect their next sexual partner.

(4) SAT scores

History of SAT Revisions read more at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/where/timeline.html

" ... In 1942, because of the war, all the pre-existing College Board admissions tests were abolished, so the SAT became te test for all applicants. In 1944, under contract to the Army and the Navy, Chauncey administered the SAT to more than 300,000 people all over the country on a single day. In 1948 the Educational Testing Service was chartered and the SAT was on its way to becoming the basic college admissions device for millions."

Revision made in 2005

Spring 2016 (essay portion made optional) points vaues dropped from 2400 to 1600 max and mistaken answers not deducted from the score (?)(!)

1900

Formation of the College Board

Formation of the College Entrance Examination Board in 1900. This organization, set up by presidents of 12 leading universities administers admissions tests. The purpose is to standardize the admissions process administratively and to force New England boarding schools to adopt a uniform curriculum. In 1901, the first College Boards were conducted. Exams were done in essay format for specific subject areas. Sample some questions from the 1901 test.

1905

Invention of the IQ

A French psychologist, Alfred Binet, is credited with inventing the first IQ test, a test that could measure one's intelligence. Binet's intent was to identify slow learners by determining their mental ages.

World War I

Experimentation with army IQ Test

During the first World War, IQ testing advances greatly when Robert Yerkes, a Harvard professor, persuaded the army to let him administer IQ tests to nearly two million recruits. Yerkes wants to use tests to choose officer candidates and help the IQ movement build up a record of statistical evidence. The resulting Alpha and Beta tests mark the first time an IQ test has mass results. The goal of IQ testers is to select the most intelligent people of society, not necessarily to reform education.

1923-1926

Carl Brigham invents the SAT

Carl C. Brigham, who worked with Yerkes on the Army IQ tests, publishes a book, A Study of American Intelligence, on the results. Brigham's book analyzes the findings by race and concludes that American education is declining "and will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial mixture becomes more and more extensive."

Around this time, Brigham also administers his own objective version of the Army test to Princeton freshmen as well as to applicants to Cooper Union, an all-scholarship technical college in New York City. The College Board then puts him in charge of a committee to develop a test that could be used by a wider group of schools. This test becomes the SAT. In 1926 the SAT is administered to high school students for the first time. Sample some questions from 1926 test.

1933

Conant and the use of SAT for scholarship programs

James Conant is appointed president of Harvard. His assistants, Henry Chauncey and Wilbur Bender are given the task of figuring out a way to select public school students for a Harvard scholarship program. They travel to Princeton in the end of 1933, where they meett Brigham. Starting in 1934, the SAT is used to select students for Harvard scholarships. A year later, Harvard begins requiring all candidates to take the SAT.

In the same year, IBM machines descended from the Markograph are used to score tests for the NY State Regents and Providence, Rhode Island public schools. By the end of the thirties, the SAT was used as a scholarship test for all Ivy League schools.

1943

The SAT, a tool of the meritocracy

On January 24 Brigham dies at age 52.His death removed the main obstacle for the testing field to be more cohesive. On April 2, the Army-Navy College Qualifying Test is administered to at least 316,000 high school seniors all over the country proving that standardized multiple-choice tests can be given to a mass group.

In May, Conant publishes the third in a series of articles for the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Wanted: American Radicals." He wrote that the American radical "believes in equality of opportunity, not equality of rewards."

1948

Creation of Educational Testing Service

Educational Testing Service (ETS), the new testing agency, officially opened for business in Princeton on Jaunary 1st. Henry Chauncey is president and Conant is made chairman of the board. The same year, before ETS is even chartered, a branch office was established in Berkeley, California. Chauncey's hope is to initiate relations with the University of California and get them to adopt the SAT as a requirement.

1952

In 1952, the current structure of questions for the verbal section of the SAT is established: reading comprehension, analogies, antonyms, sentence completion questions.

1957

In 1957, the number of students taking the SAT every year passes half a million.

1959

In 1959, a new testing organization is formed, American College Testing (ACT) becoming ETS' leading rival.

1960

University of California system signs on to the SAT.

The University of California system begins requiring applicants to take the SAT, becoming ETS' biggest client.

(5) Family Stability

Birthrate dramatically Fell

after 1960 never to rise again!