Kevin's Watch

drew wrote:oh goodness...I had to give up after about twenty...I was guessing on most of them.

Don't feel bad, Drew -- apparently so were some of those college kids.

Oh, I forgot to mention, but I got the same score as HLT (and for that matter dukka).

Got the same as HLT -- 49/60.

That quiz is one of the most assininely, anally worded things I have ever seen, and I've seen some pretty insanely worded things in the Computer Science field. About half of the questions I missed were on dates or events, and the other half were due to wording. I knew the correct answer, but could not find it among the ones given. I guess the textbooks I read from in school were not the ones that that group is pushing.

50/60, but I agree, the wording was maddening.

aliantha wrote:

drew wrote:oh goodness...I had to give up after about twenty...I was guessing on most of them.

Don't feel bad, Drew -- apparently so were some of those college kids.

Drew shouldn't feel bad at all... he's Canadian.

"52 out of 60 correctly — 86.67 %"

I have to say, the one about Plato and The Republic threw me for a loop... because Plato also pointed to the desirability of tyranny over democracy. Apparently this referred to the Cliff's Notes version of The Republic. I am ashamed to say that I missed the other major question about the philosophers... never was too interested in the political thought of anyone after the classical period.

This quiz really drove home just how money-centered America is. What does the definition of profit have to do with civics??

I have to say, the one about Plato and The Republic threw me for a loop... because Plato also pointed to the desirability of tyranny over democracy. Apparently this referred to the Cliff's Notes version of The Republic. I am ashamed to say that I missed the other major question about the philosophers... never was too interested in the political thought of anyone after the classical period.

Heh, honestly I only remember him saying that democracies lead to tyrannies, not that tyrannies were necessarily better XD But I could definitely be wrong. I would say it doesn't matter too much, since we're not exactly a democracy as plato described it in any case.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:

aliantha wrote:

drew wrote:oh goodness...I had to give up after about twenty...I was guessing on most of them.

Don't feel bad, Drew -- apparently so were some of those college kids.

Drew shouldn't feel bad at all... he's Canadian.

Yup, I know. I was just giving him another excuse.

Holsety wrote:Heh, honestly I only remember him saying that democracies lead to tyrannies, not that tyrannies were necessarily better XD But I could definitely be wrong. I would say it doesn't matter too much, since we're not exactly a democracy as plato described it in any case.

Yeah, democracies led (back) to tyrannies if I remember correctly. I may be mixing in a bit of Machiavelli or somebody else, too, but one or the other of them said that tyranny/dictatorship/monarchy are basically all the same, and it's just a matter of what kind of leader the tyrant/dictator/monarch is. I seem to recall a story about a fellow and his lover killing a tyrant or dictator who turned out to have been benevolent to pretty much everybody but them... all a matter of perspective, but Plato's idea (building up to the Philosopher King bit) was that a single ruler was more beneficial than mass rule, because mass rule led to anarchy and the bad kind of tyranny.

Still wanna know what profit has to do with civics.

Didn't you know? Money is the root of all.

Economic conditions interact strongly with tax and fiscal policy, therefore economics is a vital component of civic knowledge.