Geography In America

[Mike AI]

I am sure everyone remembers the poor scores American students and people have gotten on geography....

Well I found the map they use when giving the test, here are the most typical answers.

LOL! Look how small Mexico is!

Big hats! Hehehehe.

La Señora Deanna Figueroa :P
San Antonio Del Mar
Baja California Norte
Mexico

[Mutt]

[Plugger]

What happend to all of the "Evil doers" ?

[kath]

Please no more Evil Doers, Axis of Evil or Weapons of Mass Destruction. h34r:

*sigh*

[Plugger]

It cool Kath, that is why they were taken off the map

[kath]

What's frightening is how many American kids really see the world this way. I've been homeschooling my two (now 11 and 13) since my oldest was in 1st Grade. It's funny comparing what mine know versus the public-schooled neighbor kids.

For instance I overheard a discussion the other day in the backyard. One neighbor kid says "oh your Mom is from Ohio - mine is from Michigan" - the other kid says "where's that?" and the first kid replies, "I think it's somewhere in the mid-west by Oregon." My kids just giggled and they went back to playing basketball.

It's scary - this is the future generation that will be "taking care of us" in our old age!

[sarah_webinc]

It would be funny if it wasn't true. You really get to see how true it is when you live abroad. So many people I talk to honestly don't know where England is on the map and that England isn't the same thing as the UK (ie, scotland, wales, and N. Ireland are part of it too and it isn't all called England). Scary stuff.

[Almighty Colin]

Society has always functioned quite well with 90% of the population dumb and dumber. Those 90% won't "take care of us" any more than they need to take our order, cook our food, or clean our house. The 10% will do just as well as they always have.

The overall trend world-wide is towards increasing literacy and knowledge. Universal education may have brought the mean skills of those that participate in the education system down but it expanded the number of those educated and will in the long run, I believe, result in the best educated population possible.

Originally posted by sarah_webinc@Jan 14 2003, 02:02 AM
It would be funny if it wasn't true. You really get to see how true it is when you live abroad. So many people I talk to honestly don't know where England is on the map and that England isn't the same thing as the UK (ie, scotland, wales, and N. Ireland are part of it too and it isn't all called England). Scary stuff.

why is it scary? how much do you know about Provincial Canada?

probably less than most americans know about Europe. why would people on the other side of the world be expected to know alot about the other side of the world when they are busy milking goats and fucking sheep and dating their cousins in Kansas?

how much can you tell us about Pacific Rim Island Countries? i am sure that they are also frustrated that Scottish people are "ignorant" about where Jakharta is and why they have been killing each other for decades but the reality is that it has very little to do with someones everyday life in an opposite corner of the globe... nor is it useful knowledge.




Last edited by -= JR =- at Jan 14 2003, 07:29 AM

[sarah_webinc]

well as an ex-travel agent and someone with an honours degree in political science, a large portion of which was in political geography I might be the wrong person to ask

I think it is sad when anyone, regardless of where they live doesn't know atleast the basics of geography. Also, it is useful knowledge..if only people knew where afghanistan was on a map before Sept 11, eh? Might not have stopped anything but alteast they would have known a bit more about their enemy.

Originally posted by sarah_webinc@Jan 14 2003, 09:18 AM
well as an ex-travel agent and someone with an honours degree in political science, a large portion of which was in political geography I might be the wrong person to ask

I think it is sad when anyone, regardless of where they live doesn't know atleast the basics of geography. Also, it is useful knowledge..if only people knew where afghanistan was on a map before Sept 11, eh? Might not have stopped anything but alteast they would have known a bit more about their enemy.

who does not know the basics of geography? people know and retain information that is relevant to their daily life experience. I dont remember algebra. it does not mean i am stupid... it means that i have had no use for that information in the last 20 years and it had no useful application in my life and correctly, as part of 20,000,000 million year evolutionary process, i deleted that information from my mind to make space for more relevant information.

why dont we all speak Spanish? German? Korean?... because we dont need to. why dont i know where Northern Ireland is seperated from the South? because it never one time has had a direct effect on my life. Just in the exact same way the Eskimo whalers in Greenland never have.

you can only consider something to be "useful knowledge" if it is exactly that... "useful". if it was useful, people would know it, just as they know where to buy food, water and clothes.

why would knowing geography about Afghanistan be useful to me?

[Peaches]

Originally posted by -= JR =-@Jan 14 2003, 10:36 AM
why would knowing geography about Afghanistan be useful to me?

I'm just happy if I can find my way back home......

[Almighty Colin]

Everyone has their pet peeves about knowledge but I think they are just that. Some of my physics professors thought everyone should be required to learn calculus and physics in high school. They considered anyone that didn't know physics to be dumb. I think one could make a fair argument that knowledge of physics is just as important as geography. How can undertanding the Universe not be considered to be fundamental knowledge? How many fewer mistakes people would make with a good understanding of statistics and probability.

In reality though, most people just want to go about their everyday lives. Go to work, raise their kids, barbeque on weekends, watch television. I think that attitude is just fine. There are plenty enough people concerned about astronomy, world politics, technology, or whatever else it is that helps society keep ticking.

It doesn't bother me one bit that the majority (?) of high school students can't correctly explain the reason for the seasons, have no idea what the Big Bang is, have a warped view of evolution, and have no idea whether the North Pole is warmer than the South Pole on average or not. Many intelligent adults don't know these things either. Time keeps on ticking ...

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by Peaches+Jan 14 2003, 09:45 AM-->