Deck 12: Education

Question 1

The Supreme Court's decision in which case supported school segregation?

A) Brown v. the Board of Education
B) Bakke
C) Plessy v. Ferguson
D) Reagan v. the Department of Education
E) United States v. Lopez

Answer 1

C
Explanation: The 1896 Supreme Court ruling that gave legal backing to the segregation that already existed. This wasn't completely overturned until Brown v. the Board of Education in 1954.

Question 2

Which American president thought in terms of a meritocracy of talent?

A) George Washington
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Benjamin Franklin
D) Andrew Jackson
E) Abraham Lincoln

Answer 2

B
Explanation: Jefferson hoped to replace Europe's aristocracy of birth with a school-bred meritocracy of talent.

Question 3

What did the Morrill Act do during the Civil War?

A) It closed down the Southern universities
B) It freed private institutions from state control
C) It gave each state huge land areas for education
D) It ordered the states to build new universities
E) It upheld school segregation

Answer 3

C
Explanation: The resulting land-grant universities became the foundation for today's state school system.

Question 4

For what did the federal government offer financial support in 1917?

A) new school buildings
B) teacher training programs
C) faith schools
D) private schools
E) vocational education

Question 5

For what purpose was Howard University founded in 1867?

A) Educating African Americans
B) Training federal administrators
C) Educating women
D) Providing non-religious higher education
E) Educating Native Americans

Question 6

What did the "G.I. Bill" of 1944 do?

A) It effectively turned US higher education into mass education
B) Funded the education costs of veterans
C) Provided vocational education for veterans
D) Instructed universities to recruit more veterans
E) Set up special colleges for veterans

Question 7

To what does "white flight" refer?

A) Segregation on aircraft
B) The refusal of whites to send their children into desegregated schools
C) Whites moving to the suburbs
D) Whites moving to other states where schools were still segregated

Question 8

At which groups were the affirmative action programs of the 1970s aimed?

A) Poor whites
B) Recent immigrants
C) Members of religious denominations
D) Minority groups
E) Women

Question 9

Which presidential candidate threatened to close down the Department of Education if elected?

A) Ronald Reagan
B) George Bush
C) Bill Clinton
D) George W. Bush
E) Barack Obama

Question 10

What Act replaced the No Child Left Behind Act?

A) The Compulsory Education Act
B) The Morrill Act
C) The Every Student Succeeds Act
D) The Affordable Education Act
E) The Secondary Elementary Education Action

Question 11

Which Supreme Court decision found numerical quotas for university admissions unconstitutional?

A) Bakke
B) Wade v. Roe
C) Brown v. the Board of Education
D) Miranda v. Arizona
E) Plessy v. Ferguson

Question 12

Approximately what percentage of American children attend private schools in the US?

A) 5
B) 10
C) 15
D) 20
E) 25

Question 13

What do "community colleges" do?

A) Provide for children with special educational needs
B) Only accept students from the immediate area
C) Only offer technical degrees
D) Only serve older adults
E) Provide the first level of higher education

Question 14

How many US students study in the private sector of higher education?

A) Less than 5 percent
B) 1 in 10
C) 15 percent
D) half
E) A quarter

Question 15

Describe the private sector in American education. Is it good public policy for the US to support alternatives to public schooling?

Question 16

Discuss the issues of current debate in American education. Why are these questions important or difficult in the US?

Question 17

What is the function of community colleges within the US educational system?

Question 18

What is home schooling? Why do parents choose to home school their children? What are the main issues that have arisen with regard to mandatory home schooling at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels during the COVID-19 pandemic?