White House/Presidents Quiz

With the U.S. Presidential race constantly in the news, how much do you know about past Presidents and the White House? The White House Kids page has an assortment of quizzes aimed to test your knowledge of the White House and its inhabitants. For example, can you answer the following questions? (answers at the end)


1. Who was the only president to get married in the White House?

2. What did Lydia Darrah do to help George Washington's troops at Valley Forge?

3. Which President inspired the March of Dimes?

4. Who was the first President to dedicate a new baseball stadium?

5. President Ronald Reagan was the broadcaster for which baseball team?


Answers:
1. Grover Cleveland
2. Provided intelligence about the British troops
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. Lyndon B. Johnson – Astrodome – April 9, 1965
5. Chicago Cubs

Salaries of Federal Employees

Are you interested in pursuing a career with a federal agency? Now you can find out from the Federal Employees database the salaries of various federal employees with the exception of those who work in secure areas such as the FBI, CIA, or Defense Department. You can look up the salary of a particular individual or of a category of workers in a particular locale.

Poet Laureates

When questioned by a reporter, John McCain recently had to admit he didn't know who the poet laureate of the United States or of Arizona is. It would be interesting to see how many members of the general public know that Charles Simic, an immigrant from Yugoslavia who didn't speak English until he was 15, is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. While Arizona does not have a poet laureate, Larry D. Thomas of Houston is the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate. A list of Texas Poet Laureates from 1932 onward is available from The Handbook of Texas Online. Information about U.S. Poet Laureates from 1937 onward is available from the Library of Congress.

2008 Education Statistics

According to "The Condition of Education 2008," an annual report published by the National Center for Education Statistics, the nation's student body is becoming more diverse while school enrollment is at an all-time high. At the college level, the largest growth area for enrollment was from women and minority students. However, Hispanic students were underrepresented among the minorities. The report indicates that only 34 percent of Hispanics aged 25 to 29 completed some college as of 2007 compared to 50 percent of black and 66 percent of white U.S. residents. Hispanics born outside the United States are three times more likely to lack a high-school diploma than those from families who have lived in the United States a generation or more.

More college and advanced degrees are being awarded as of 2005-2006 compared with ten years earlier including 28 percent more bachelor's and associate degrees, 46 percent more master's degrees, and 26 percent more doctorates. The most popular undergraduate majors included business, social sciences and history, and education. At the master's level the greatest number of degrees were conferred for the fields of education and business while at the doctoral level education, engineering, health professions and related clinical sciences, biological and biomedical sciences, and psychology were the most popular.

Earnings of young adults with degrees are still greater than their peers without degrees. In 2005 males with a bachelor’s or higher degree earned 64 percent more than their peers who only completed high school compared to 19 percent more in 1980.

At the elementary and secondary level public school enrollment increased. Public school elementary enrollment is expected to increase annually through 2016, while public secondary enrollment should be about 2 percent higher in 2016 than in 2007 after experiencing a decrease of 2 percent between 2007 and 2011