By KATHERINE ROSENBERG, Editor

LUCERNE VALLEY - Just before graduation tomorrow, 30 local high school students participated in an informal survey from the Leader, scoring an overall 73 percent on the general knowledge quiz.

Math seemed to provide the biggest struggle for the outgoing class of 2009, with the random sampling of students scoring between 53 percent and 63 percent on the 13-question survey’s three math questions.

Principal Mike Murphy said that the students have was surprised that some students could not come up with the correct sum of 1/2 and 1/4, since it was on that test as well.

“I’ve got no problem having them take this test and sharing the results with the community — we’ve got nothing to hide,” Murphy said.

The lowest overall score for any of the questions was 40 percent which came when students were asked what the economic system of the United States is. Just 12 of the 30 responses correctly responded “capitalism.”

Lucerne Valley High School Seniors seemed well-versed in both science and literature. Twenty-eight of the 30 correctly identified photosynthesis as the process plants use to convert sunlight into chemical compounds and 27 of 30 correctly named two works written by William Shakespeare.

Students seem to be up on current events, with 86 percent of students correctly identifying Joe Biden as the nation’s Vice President. However, 14 percent of respondents did not know there were 50 states in the country and 14 percent also could not name three of the seven continents.

Only 66 percent of students could name one of the three rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The quiz has been issued by sister publication the Daily Press for 10 years as a means of assessing how much students learned in school, although it is not an official or scientific poll.

Katherine Rosenberg can be reached at 964-9057 or by e-mail at krosenberg@vvdailypress.com