Louisiana Literacy Test for people who want to vote but cannot prove a fifth grade education.
You have only ten minute to answer all the questions on all three pages. Good luck.

Originally Posted by hilton

Louisiana Literacy Test for people who want to vote but cannot prove a fifth grade education.
You have only ten minute to answer all the questions on all three pages. Good luck.

I don't understand the point of this thread hilton.

Will you at least give us solutions to study for this test?

I wonder if the people who wrote this test have, themselves, passed 5th grade? .....

Originally Posted by herBs

I don't understand the point of this thread hilton.

In Louisiana, prospective voters could be given this test to prove their eligibility to vote by demonstrating their literacy. The scandal was that the poll clerks could decide arbitrarily to whom they would administer the test. It was alleged that black voters were unfairly chosen to get this test. As you can see, (if you are able to participate in this forum, for example, you would be able to get any of the questions right) the time limit and the standard of one error constituting a failure would eliminate a lot of ordinary Louisiana citizens. I have to admit that I was a bit curious about the nature of this literacy test, and I would judge it to be unfair for the circumstances, simply on the expectations.

how do you draw a line around a word?

This is difficult

Its back from the 60's. Yeah it used to be pretty much to exclude blacks.

Its back from the 60's. Yeah it used to be pretty much to exclude blacks.

Really? How many white people here solved the whole thing?

One thing I know for sure, people definitely became dumber in the past 60 years.

^The test wasn't given to everyone.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Really? How many white people here solved the whole thing?

One thing I know for sure, people definitely became dumber in the past 60 years.

Originally Posted by oldviking

In Louisiana, prospective voters could be given this test to prove their eligibility to vote by demonstrating their literacy. The scandal was that the poll clerks could decide arbitrarily to whom they would administer the test. It was alleged that black voters were unfairly chosen to get this test. As you can see, (if you are able to participate in this forum, for example, you would be able to get any of the questions right) the time limit and the standard of one error constituting a failure would eliminate a lot of ordinary Louisiana citizens. I have to admit that I was a bit curious about the nature of this literacy test, and I would judge it to be unfair for the circumstances, simply on the expectations.

And I'm not so sure about people becoming dumber. Lazier, sure, with the advent of Google and Internet forums and such, but not necessarily dumber. The raw amount of knowledge available to people 60 years ago was much less than today, and if you're a proponent of things like IQ then those raw scores have been steadily increasing as well (look up "Flynn effect".)

^The test wasn't given to everyone.

I got that. What I meant was, "how many white people could solve this thing today?", and by solve I meant "figure out that this test is a joke".

And I'm not so sure about people becoming dumber. Lazier, sure, with the advent of Google and Internet forums and such, but not necessarily dumber. The raw amount of knowledge available to people 60 years ago was much less than today, and if you're a proponent of things like IQ then those raw scores have been steadily increasing as well (look up "Flynn effect".)

Like I said. How many people on the street would figure out that the test is a joke? They would try solving it for real. Basically remember, knowledge available has nothing to do with being intelligent.

Plus I could argue that the intelligence in the western society does in fact go down and has been in the past 70 or so years. Think about it. Western culture is a culture of consumership over innovation, that praises sports and movie stars much more than scientists, a culture where kids are taught from the start that being smart is "uncool", but chilling with your xBox all day long not doing anything productive is totally fine...... but I will leave that for another thread.

Plus I could argue that the intelligence in the western society does in fact go down and has been in the past 70 or so years.

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tm...nn_effect.html

how do you draw a line around a word?

You would fail this test.

Its back from the 60's. Yeah it used to be pretty much to exclude blacks.

Are you sure? This statement would be true if in fact blacks WERE dumber and unable to solve the test. Which makes you incredibly racist.
Why don't we say that it was made to make sure uneducated people ( ) didn't vote - something many people these days want, anyway.

This statement would be true if in fact blacks WERE dumber and unable to solve the test. Which makes you incredibly racist.

The point is not that any particular group of people were supposed to be dumber than another group. Even though the questions are not in themselves that hard, some just a bit tricky. But that the standard was to get through all 30 questions in 10 minutes, without any mistake. I am sure that any random voter could be made to not measure up to the standard. The test was administered at the whim of the (white) poll clerks, and likely caught a lot of black voters, leaving them without the chance of voting. The purpose of the test was just another weapon in the arsenal, to exclude black voters. If the burning cross on the lawn the night before, and the intimidation the week before, didn't dissuade the black voters from turning up at the polls, as would have been their legal right, the test could be pulled out. The poll officials had the flexibility to let any white person vote without going through the test, because they would be presumed to be literate.

Originally Posted by oldviking

The point is not that any particular group of people were supposed to be dumber than another group. Even though the questions are not in themselves that hard, some just a bit tricky. But that the standard was to get through all 30 questions in 10 minutes, without any mistake. I am sure that any random voter could be made to not measure up to the standard. The test was administered at the whim of the (white) poll clerks, and likely caught a lot of black voters, leaving them without the chance of voting. The purpose of the test was just another weapon in the arsenal, to exclude black voters. If the burning cross on the lawn the night before, and the intimidation the week before, didn't dissuade the black voters from turning up at the polls, as would have been their legal right, the test could be pulled out. The poll officials had the flexibility to let any white person vote without going through the test, because they would be presumed to be literate.

Right so it was confusing to make sure that dumb black people couldn't vote. If all blacks were as smart as Jews, it would not have worked. So you're saying blacks were/are dumb.