Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1916-01-20
COLLEGE Men FAIL
IN QUIZ ON WAR
Test Shows Students Are Ig-
nOTant Of Current Events.
MANY LUDICROUS ANSWERS

EXAMINATIONS IN nree INSTITUTIONS re
suit In College Authorities Seeking
Corrective Measures to Overcome
Defciency-Beieve Students Are In
different to European Affairs.
New York-Whether the ignorance
of the college student of today is rep
resentative Of a growing Indifference
on the part of the American public to-
ward events, persons and places init
mately associated with the European
war is question which college and
university authorities are Investigate
ing as a result of examinations recent
ly held under the auspices of three rep
resentative institutions. AS an imme-
diate result of the recent quiz on con-
temporaneOuS events conducted at New
York university, where an average
grade of IS per cent was the rating
shown by 6fty-nine students, several
members Of the faculty are looking for
corrective measures to overcome this
deficiency.
It was stated by a member of the de
Nurtment of history at the New York
university that he believed the appar-
ent Indifference of students toward the
present war was indicative of gener-
al tendency on the part of the public to
neglect a close study OF affairs III Eu-
rope. That the surprising lack of in
formation of affairs Immediately con
nected with the war was not peculiar
to students at any university was fur
| Their expressed as the opinion of Pro
| lessor A. II. Mason, assistant profes-
| sor of English at New York university
| Professor Mason, who submitted TWEEN
| ty-one questions to students in his va
rious classes, pointed out that the Ques-
| lions used have also been submitted
! to students of two other institutions
a middle western state university ana
! ROwdOin college-WheTe the results
were about the same.
Dean Kenneth G. M. Stills of Bow
dom college is quoted as saying, Il DO
not think college men of New England
colleges are very steady newspaper
readers and referred to the matter
as 'lamentable, but not surprising.
Some of the questions asked by au-
thorities at both RowdOin college and
New York university received answers
which in many cases were ludlcrouS,
| At BOWdOin out of q class Of fifty-thrc2
| students twenty were ignorant as to
the location Of Gaiipoli, which III
many cases was put yAriOuSly in Italy.
! France. Bulgaria. Greece and Berlin.
New York university students answer
| ed the same question with apparently
as little accuracy.
The French General Joffre was va
riously designated by students at both
institutions as "Joffree," LOTTERY
! ''Geoffrey" and "JeOfrey," indicating 4
| general unfamiliarity with even news
paper headlines. The question, "Who
| is VenizelOs!' resulted in similarly ri
| Giculous answers Some recOllectcI
the ex-premier of Greece as a Spanish
artist, another said that he was a Mex
lean rebel, while still another designat-
cd him as the premier Of Italy. When
asked "Who is the present ruler Of
|
riously King Edward, George Ill. "
or VI us the correct information
In the department of history at New
York university Assistant Professor
! Theodore +. Jones submitted current
questions to a class Of students in Eu
ronean history, among which was tie
query, "Where is Christiania?' Only
| two students knew it's location, in spite
| CT the fact that the daily papers of the
| day before all contained long accounts
Of the landing Of the Ford party al
chat city One student Of the same
class half seriously answered the ques-
ton, who is Sir Douglas Hague!" by
stating that he would answer the ques-
ton correctly if told where the other
"Haig" was
OF the fifty-nine students taking the
examination at New York university
none answered all Of the inquiries cor
rectly, while. only three obtained a
grade above 90 per cent. Of class Of
tWentythree freshmen nine failed,
while the average rank was sc per
cent. Another class of the same num-
her Of freshmen averaged only 80 per
f@'nj, and thirteen failed to pass, while
q class made up If upper class men did
rs poorly ana averG ged a grade Of
oniy 81 per cent.