GROUNDBREAKING NEW REPORT REVEALS THAT COLLEGES PUSH OPINION TO LEFT ON POLARIZING SOCIAL VIEWS

Wilmington, DE - What do students actually learn in America's colleges? For the first time ever we have statistical evidence - and the results are startling.

On February 10th the nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) will release its fourth annual report assessing how well America's colleges and universities are preparing graduates for lives of informed and responsible citizenship. This year's National Civic Literacy Report, THE SHAPING OF THE AMERICAN MIND, measures for the first time the impact that earning a bachelor's degree has on forming public opinion and whether or not graduates have a grasp of essential elements of American history, government, and economics.

This groundbreaking report - based on a 33-question civic literacy test and a comprehensive opinion survey that also assessed the respondents' educational, demographic, and behavioral backgrounds - clearly shows that college fails to adequately transmit civic knowledge. So what does it do? It significantly influences opinion leftward on our most polarizing social issues.

JUST SOME OF THE EVIDENCE ISI FOUND IN ITS RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC STUDY:

- College makes people more likely to support same-sex marriage and abortion on demand, and less likely to support school prayer and the American work ethic
- A college degree moves a person toward the Democrat/liberal side of the political spectrum, while greater civic knowledge moves a person toward the Republican/conservative pole of the spectrum
- Only 24% of college graduates know that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; and even fewer-17%-can accurately distinguish free markets from centralized planning.
- College professors are more likely than non-professors to believe that America corrupts otherwise good people, the Ten Commandments are irrelevant, and educators should instill more doubt among students 

The findings in ISI's 2010 Civic Literacy Report sharply illustrate the real-world failure of a college degree and the politicized nature of higher education.