The Intercollegiate Studies Institute recently published a survey showing college students lack basic knowledge of U.S. institutions and history.The survey was entitled, “The Shaping of the American Mind: The Diverging Influences of the College Degree & Civic Learning on American Beliefs.”ISI administered a 60-question multiple-choice civics test in 2006 and 2007 to more than 14,000 college freshmen and seniors.  The average freshman answered 51.7 percent of the questions correctly, and the average senior answered 53.2 percent correctly.The average freshman answered 50.4 percent correctly in 2007, and the average senior answered 54.2 percent correctly.ISI expanded the survey to include 2,508 American adults in 2008 to both those with and without a college degree. The participants took a shortened 33-question test. Seventy-one percent failed.The average college graduate only answered four more questions correctly than the average person without a college degree.James Duet, biological sciences freshman, took the survey.”It was just information I used to know in high school that I completely forgot,” Duet said.Marcus Adams, mechanical engineering junior, had difficulty with a question about the three   inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence. Adams said the problem was his lack of interest in the subject throughout school.Lauren Hillhouse, pre-nursing sophomore, had less trouble with the questions. She said she is politically involved and even led a tea party when groups were protesting taxes.The root of the problem is a lack of analysis, said Robert Outland, history professor. For instance, Outland said few students understand the differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation.Paul Paskoff, history professor, said one of the problems he encounters with incoming students is most have not been exposed to the material since middle school or early high school.Paskoff also said the gaps in students’ knowledge is not from a lack of intelligence.Both Outland and Paskoff said students believe history is a matter of memorizing dates.Paskoff said historians are like detectives, and he tries to “re-awaken what interest there might have been.”The problems faced by each generation are not entirely new, said Paskoff. Each generation debates what is Constitutional, the difference between federal and state power and whether civil liberties are absolute or can be suspended in a time of crisis.According to ISI, students apparently do not have adequate knowledge of the government, but they tend to have a very polarized civic opinion. For example, college graduates tend to favor both same-sex marriage and abortion, while disagreeing with teacher-led prayer in schools.—–Contact Joanna Zimmerman at [email protected]