The poor girl! And do you think this is true?

Sex.

I just showed that video to my daughter (who just graduated high school) and her answer to the question was:

"Because they don't teach enough geography in the schools!"


duh. that was easy enough

Your daughter sounds very pretty :wink:

Don't worry ~ it's not confined to the USA (loved the "us" story!).

Back in the days that I worked in an office, a group of us were lounging in the lunch room. We started asking and answering questions in the various languages that we knew. One woman was not participating, and looked very perplexed. Finally she blurted out that she had never realized that there were actually other languages! She thought that everyone, all over the world, spoke English -- just with funny accents.

We must end the war in The Iraq.

Like such as.

If her looks get her "set for life", what of it? She's lucky to have her looks as a commodity, and let's face it, not every guy likes brains. We all trade on what we have and if that's all she has, who cares? There are just as many stupid men out there but no one ever mentions that. I couldn't watch it all. That was not a nice ending to her win. I felt so sorry for her, esp on national tv! The poor kid.

Anyway, you missed my point. Are there really that many Americans who can't find their own country on a map? I find that hard to believe, but I'm certain it's not just Americans, if it's true.

This is her response:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20473692/

I believe her btw

Does anyone know where the actual poll is that says that 1/5 of Americans can't locate their own country on a map? I looked for it and couldn't find it. I'm wondering if its actually true.

She is going to make a pile of cash out of this - good for her.

I retract my "stupid girl" comment.

H2O_Man -

Mame - Yes, there are plenty of stupid men out there, but they usually don't end up with rich spouses. Hopefully, most women wouldn't waste too much time or effort on a stupid man.... even if he was gorgeous.

About the map....I too, find it difficult to believe that many Americans can't find the US. It seems like such a basic thing to learn!

Year after year, my kids were/are expected learn, discuss, and read ad nauseum about Rosa Parks. (I'm NOT putting down Rose Parks....just the teaching process!)
When I asked if they'd covered WWII or Vietnam in as much depth, the response was always "yeah, a little bit."

When I was in school, we always had a map of the world on a wall. Every year/grade. We learned the states, countries, the world and the cultures. Nowadays, they only "touch" on some subjects.

Ok, so she thought about it and came back with a good attitude and response.

But you know what they say about first impressions. :wink:

Re: Do I think it's true….hmmm…thinking about the entire country, all the places I've driven through/by throughout the years, stopping for gas, food, rest, etc…..I think it's entirely possible. I'm not thinking it's so much urban, suburban, or even poor vs. middle class, but rather, interest in the world as a whole.

Many of us, when we travel, get on an airplane, travel for x amount of hours in a metal tube, and get off in a different time zone, country, climate and culture. While we are in the air, we are so used to the fact we can hurtle along at hundreds of miles an hour, we loose sight of the fact we are flying over people who may have never been in an airplane. We like to think that people who live in these huge spaces between airport dream of "escaping" from where ever it is they live, and have a life where we are concerned with all world events, understand and care about politics and the economy and are, well…just like you.

Not to say there aren't lots of people who are like that, but I'm not talking about them. I've lived in the middle of nowhere, and I've lived in metropolitan areas. I have met people from both extremes, and in the middle, who don't really think all that much about the world beyond their personal experience. You know what? Most of them were pretty happy people. They weren't necessarily stupid either. They just knew a lot about where they lived, some about "out there" and weren't all that gung ho on experiencing what was happening to the rest of us, and with our notions of what we thought would make them happy.

I'm not saying ignorance is bliss. However, thinking about the age differences of people, what individuals aspire to gain throughout their life, I would feel a little self satisfied with myself if I thought that every person should know certain things, either because I know them, I think they "should" know them, or believe these people cannot possible be productive and happy unless they know what "I" think they should know.

Not know how to find the U.S. on the map? Yeah, to me that sounds a little extreme. However, consider this....We know not all that long ago people lived their lives seldom going more than a few miles from their home….maybe a big trip once in a while of 20 miles. Were those people any less happy than we who can drive as far as we want at any time? Are they any more happy? I don't know, do you? Knowing where the country you live in is does sound to me like a fact people should know. It does seem very basic. However, in less extreme cases, I've know people who had never been a hundred miles from where they lived, and were happy, and smart, and had no desire to go beyond their town limits unless they had to. Was there any particular reason they needed to know the shape of their country, when they spent their days working a job they liked, went home to someone they loved, and slept well and happily at night?

Or, do they just know what happiness "really" is?

It was a map of Australia.

Don't pay attention to her, Mame! She doesn't count. She's Slovenian ... Slavonian ... she's from one of these places that a certain candidate for the American presidency couldn't tell apart either. I might add that he ended up being the winning candidate.

Hard to say without knowing what study they were referring to but a 2002 CNN study pegged the number at 11% of 18-25 year olds that couldn't fiud the U.S. on a map and a 2006 National Geographic Study put the number at 6% of high school students.

The United States is that area on the upper left side of the map, light green in color, located kind of between the stuff above and the stuff below.

I....am.....a friggin genius.

Neither could the New York Times apparently, at the time. When George Bush was meeting with Putin, NYT was proudly sporting a map of....Slovenia.
Can't blame'em too much. Language sounds almost the same, their flag looks almost identical, and even our anthems sound alike.
Still.....

Dag, did you know that George Bush, up until three weeks before the Irag invasion, did not know there were Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis? He was under the assumption that they were all "one people" and was quite surprised at a briefing when he was told otherwise.

Say what you will, but I personally believe that if U.S. Americans build up the future for our children, our education should help South Africa.

Chew on that, geniuses. Or did I just blow your minds?

South Africa education depending on them and us helping when called upon will never have the effect of education when we are then helping us citizens because of south African and their education system.