Thesis+Based+Research+Assignment



Haven University, 11 Oct. 2002. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. .
 * || Johnson, Lindsay. "Students cite problems with American media." //Eagle Eye//. Lock

Mark. "The World Eyes American Ignorance." //Discover//. N.p., 2 Oct. 2005. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. .

McGill, Doug. "Unlearning Our Ignorance." //The McGill//. N.p., 27 Aug. 2003. Web. 21 Sept. 2009. .

O'Beirne, Kate. "Don't Know Much About Politics: The Curse of the Ignorant Voter." //National Review// (Nov. 2004): 26-27. PDF file.

Shenkman, Rick. "Tomgram: Rick Shenkman, American Stupidity." //Tomdispatch//. The Nation Institute, 1 July 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . ||  || "Some Supporting Statistics." //Political Ignorance of American youth//. Blogspot, 4 Dec. 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . ||

Somin, Ilya. "How Political ignorance Threatens Democracy." //USA Today// Nov. 2004: 22-25. PDF file. ||


 * Why did you go down this research path?** I followed this course of research because I am highly intrigued by how American culture is developing into an isolated frame of mind – disregarding our own and foreign politics.
 * What driving question guided your research?** Why are Americans increasingly culturally, politically, and historically unaware of the world’s issues?
 * What more specific questions had to be answered before finally answering this driving question?** I had to follow questions that have inquiries into America’s current state of knowledge and intelligence, and where Americans might be “learning” their ignorance.

1) O'Beirne, Kate. "Don't Know Much About Politics: The Curse of the Ignorant Voter." //National Review// (Nov. 2004): 26-27. PDF file. A. At the height of a campaign, about 70% of voters can’t name their states two Senators. (27) B. At the time this article was written, 70 percent of Americans were unaware Congress recently passed a Medicare prescription-drug plan—the largest federal-entitlement expansion in decades (26) C. Opinion: Ignorant voters are plaguing the polls, outnumbering intelligent voters (26) D. That the public’s knowledge of current affairs is in a sorry state is the only safe call we can make about this year’s race.

2) Somin, Ilya. "How Political ignorance Threatens Democracy." //USA// //Today// Nov. 2004: 22-25. PDF file. A. Not having knowledge of why/who your voting for, political knowledge, domestic and foreign, can lead to democracy not being effective – as voters don’t know why and what their voting for. (22) B. Three main issues of voter ignorance: not just ignorant to specific policy issues, but about the basic structure of the government and how it operates, second is that most voters can not intelligently combine how they feel about issues into basic principles and who they should vote for. Finally, is voter’s inability to spot connections that certain issues share with each other. (22) C. Voter ignorance severely impairs the public's knowledge and will to learn more, also impairing their ability to vote effectively and exercise control over their government. (22) D. “If voters do not know what is going on in politics, they cannot rationally exercise control over government policy.

3) McGill, Doug. "Unlearning Our Ignorance." //The McGill//. N.p., 27 Aug. 2003. Web. 21 Sept. 2009. <[]>. A. 30% Americans 18-24 could not locate Pacific Ocean (1) B. 85% of said age range could not locate Iraq on a map (1) C. Lack of such knowledge will translate into greater security risks, cultural wasting and lost economic opportunities in our community (1)

D. “Despite the heightened sense of urgency brought by 9/11 and more recent global developments, however, the local public school curriculum hasn't yet changed. There is still no graduation requirement to take either geography or foreign language classes at the Rochester public schools” (1).

4) Johnson, Lindsay. "Students cite problems with American media." //Eagle Eye//. Lock Haven University, 11 Oct. 2002. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . A. Many American students feel that Americans tend to be ignorant of the world around them. (1) B. Students don’t feel the need to learn about other countries because they aren’t planning on going there. (1) C. American’s aren’t up-to-date on world affairs. (1) D. American media holds biases, affecting what the public hears and thinks about certain topics. (1) E. “American press, easily the most ready example of free press in the world, tends to come from two different sources – liberal and conservative – while foreign press seems to sprout from one viewpoint from each country.”

5) Mark. "The World Eyes American Ignorance." //Discover//. N.p., 2 Oct. 2005. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . A. 64% of Poll in //The Observer// were open to teaching creationism in addition to evolution, 38% favored replacing evolution with creationism. (1) C. 40% of Americans believe God will eventually intervene in Human affairs and bring about an end to life on Earth. (1) D. According to a survey by CNN TV news network, 80% of Americans think that the government is hiding evidence about the existence of space aliens. E. 70% of Americans believe it is likely that Saddam Hussein had a personal part in 9/11 attacks. (1) F. “It is embarrassing to live in a state where public ignorance can force people to deny reality” (1).

6) "Some Supporting Statistics." //Political Ignorance of American youth//. Blogspot, 4 Dec. 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . A. 30% of Americans are aware that Roe v. Wade was the case that made abortion legal. B. 25% know the term length of US Senators. C. 20% Know how many senators there are D. 40% Can name the three branches of U.S. Government E. 49% Know that America is the only country to have dropped a Nuke F. 19% Cannot identify MLK Jr. G. 34% Know that Congress holds power to declare war H. 20% of the American Youth read a paper daily I. 43% of America’s children read literature J. One in seven American kids can identify Iraq on a map C. “Unfortunately, American ignorance is not limited to the young voters, nor are Americans only ignorant when it comes to current politics.”

7) Shenkman, Rick. "Tomgram: Rick Shenkman, American Stupidity." //Tomdispatch//. The Nation Institute, 1 July 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2009. . A. About 1 in 4 Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms listed in the First Amendment (speech, religion, press, assembly, petition for redress and grievances). (1) B. McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found 22% of Americans had the ability to name all five Simpson family members, 1 in 1,000 could name all five First Amendment Freedoms. (1) C. We know stupidity when we see it, but we do not know how to combat it and change the collective knowledge of America. (1) D. “Five defining characteristics of stupidity, it seems to me, are readily apparent. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country's long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears” (1). E. “But in fact only a small percentage of people take advantage of the great new resources at hand. In 2005, the Pew Research Center surveyed the news habits of some 3,000 Americans age 18 and older. The researchers found that 59% on a regular basis get at least some news from local TV, 47% from national TV news shows, and just 23% from the Internet” (1).

8) Jane, Valerie. "American Ignorance." //Two Seconds Faster//. N.p., 13 Apr. 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. . A. 52% of Americans believe we need government regulations on big business. (1) B. 26% of Americans believe the government knows what they are doing regarding the economy. (1) C. American’s stupidity is reflected in their response to certain questions regarding the economy in which they contradict themselves. (1)

D. “My theory – people don’t really understand the difference between Capitalism and Socialism. They just know that they have been told for so long that Capitalism is bad and that socialism is wrong that they don’t know which way is up” (1).


 * Thesis:** **Based on this research what is your specific stance on this topic?** Based on my research, I stand behind the fact that the majority of Americans are unable to recognize important issues with their own country, along with others. However, while working on my project, I discovered that most Americans are aware that they do not know important information, and that they choose to not learn about it. I am moving on with the following as my thesis: Americans, due to absorption in their own pop culture, a narrowing of public school curriculum, and an apathy towards topics that they aren't forced to lean in school, are becoming increasingly unaware of domestic and foreign politics and issues.

Finding #1: Americans don’t pay attention to domestic politics and candidates, in turn wasting their vote and qualifying as an ignorant American. Support: 1A, 1B, 1D, 2A, 2B, 2C Finding #2: American youth is not taught basic, yet vital, information about the world. Support: 3A, 3B, 3D Finding #3: Students are seemingly recognizing others’, and their own, unawareness of important issues. Also, they recognize the medias bias towards presenting important information to the public. Support: 4A, 4B, 4E Finding #4: Americans have a habit of ignoring the facts, and only believing what they want to believe, and only listening to what they want to hear. Support: 5A, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F Finding #5: Too many Americans have a general ignorance to the most basic issues. Support: 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, 6G, 6H
 * Findings and Support**

What did you learn from conducting this research?** I discovered shocking statistics representing American knowledge, or lack there of. I also learned that when studying a topic such as a nation’s unawareness, there has to be a certain amount of objectivity applied by the researcher in order to recognize biases and un-supported opinion. There is solid information available on this topic, it just has to be sifted out from the un-valuable information.
 * Process Reflection:
 * What higher-order thinking skills did you employ?** A “higher-order thinking skill” that I used was picking out fact from opinion. I had to read the information presented from each source and analyze it to decide if it was supported well enough to use as factual information.
 * What research skill do you still need to improve?** I need to improve my research skills in the area of searching effectively, as I feel that I spent too much time trying to locate sources. Honing in on this aspect of researching will allow me to locate and evaluate sources much more efficiently.
 * What information did you think you knew before researching that turned out to be either incorrect of incomplete knowledge of your topic?** Before starting my research, I had a general idea of statistics and ideas backing ideas based on American ignorance, but I did not take into account the age groups to which those statistics applied. The majority of the numbers focused on younger people, almost always under the age of thirty.

So what? How do your findings fit back into the big picture of your project?** My findings in research show me that I am correct in my stance of acknowledging the growing problem of American ignorance, but have also showed me that while researching and filming this project I need to be careful of biases. Firstly, while filming my project, I must make sure to include a wide range of ages in my subjects. Secondly, I need to be able to recognize biases in the sources that I am using as research, as some of them may not include certain statistics as it contradicts and conflicts with the writer of the source’s opinion.
 * Connections to the Overall Project


 * How will this research help you move forward with your project?** Using this research, I will be able to effectively prove my point that American ignorance is an issue plaguing the country. In learning about biases and avoiding opinionated media, I will effectively be able to address all sides of the topic.