Lack of knowing where things are...

[Gary Allan]

I think that most young people just learn what they need to get by. Geography is probably well down on the heirarchy of needs list. I have to reference maps to pinpoint a few nations ..and only know them by the bearings that I get from the nations that I do know.

It does aid in a fundamental understanding of geo-politics.

I had the greatest confusion during the original conflicts in the Balkins in former Yugoslavia and whatnot. The news people never could communicate who was what and where they were ..and integrate what it all meant. I had a very hard time figuring out who the bad guys were. I only knew who managed to kill someone else. Random snipers killing residents of (thinking of that city where the Olympics were held

) going about their business ..and I could not figure out why.

 

[Schmoe]

I kind of THINK, based on what I've personally seen from my idiot in-laws, parents don't sit down and go over homework or take a lot of interest anymore on school assignments. I'm sure a lot of ya'll do on here, but a lot don't. I remember my Dad sitting down with me and making me write out misspelled words during spelling tests in the third and fourth grade, about 50 times apiece. I know I'll be all over my daughters homework when she hits grade school age in about 4 years. Help me....please.....

 

[Schmoe]

Also, you guys have got to agree with me, that things are so much easier for kids nowadays. Admit it. You know I'm right. They just do enough to get by and have no self initiative or motivation or no foot in the collective arshes. Think I'm full of baloney....just go to your local McD's, Wendy's, etc. etc and look around. You'll see what I'm talking about. Every wonder why places like Sam's doesn't hire really young high school kids? They are lazy and will actually have to do some work. Now before some of you jump in my throat, I'm just making a personal observation. Not pointing the fingers at no one here in particular. But, doesn't it scare you? Sure out parents said the same thing about us, but it was a lot different than it is now. Everyone wants to get rich quick, no one wants to work hard anymore. Look what we've become. Nothing but scary, scary thoughts. Did you see the polls on President Bush on the future of our country? 71% said that they do not like the way this country is heading.

 

[kanling]

quote:

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71% said that they do not like the way this country is heading.

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But 68% of those 71% can't even point to the country on the map

You are right, though, Schmoe. It is rare around me to see high school kids working in fast food anymore. Kids expect everything to be handed to them without time or effort - apparently they are successful with this idea.

 

[eljefino]

That 71% figure sounds like a "push poll". If you asked if taxes should be lower people will say "of course yes" but if you say should (program X) be cut... laws no.

Geography is a bear sometimes. AAA used to publish an "upside down" roadmap for people going TO florida for spring break. South was "up".

Take a satellite picture of Earth... say the Middle East... just sand and a couple bodies of water. Erase the lines and it's hard to see how tribes of people got so enclaved, enraged, and the boundaries that have been hard-fought over, and still disputed.

If you think you're such an expert on geography, erase all the lines from the interstates, all the road signs. Now go find Pittsburgh, at night, in the fog, no GPS.

Pundits can always find an excuse why our schools stink. When I was in 'em in the 1980's it was math, kids had calculators now and were going to rely on them, what if they broke?

And it wasn't even the "thoughtful" math they cared about, it was kids forgetting their multiplication tables, rote math.

 

[Shannow]

Some Oz comedians did some interviewing on just this issue.
the results were pretty much as shown earlier in the thread.

BTW, the comments on the video are pretty stupid.

 

[k1xv]

I was amazed when I lived in New Jersey and was building a house in Vermont. A high proportion of adults I knew were not exactly sure where Vermont was, even though it is within 200 miles of New Jersey, and many had actually been there on vacations. Even those who knew it was somewhere north of Massachusetts were not sure of the relative positions of Vermont and New Hampshire. One guy asked me "which one is on the left, and which one is on the right?" When I told some people that to get to Vermont from New Jersey, you go north to the Albany area and then go east, they asked "Where is Albany?"

I guess I have to recognize that geography and mapology were my passions as a small child, and most others really do not care where anyplace is that is outside their normal travels. I am told that when I was about 3 years old, I woke up in the middle of the night crying, saying I wanted a "map paper". My father gave me a road map, and I fell back asleep. By the time I was 11, I had a collection of road maps from all over the world.

 

[MarkC]

This isn't really just an American problem. When I was in England I met many people who couldn't tell me how to get to a town 100 miles away.
A woman I work with, who is from Eritrea knows less about Africa than I do.
I think it just depends on what people are interested in. I was always into geography and geology, among other things, and if you give me a globe I can find any country, as well as many cities, mountain ranges, deserts, you name it, in a very short time. But so what? I have friends who have PhD's and make megabucks for their knowledge of some areas, but aren't very swift with world geography. They don't care.

 

[labman]

So how often when you did give up and ask directions, did anybody know?

 

[Pablo]

...usually leads to not knowing much of anything........

But it's funny...the same people in the survey think they know "stuff".

People know where China is...well 70% do. And that's the good news!

 

[kanling]

It sounds even worse in the AP story.

And to think that a lot of these clueless people vote!

(I'll bet the correct answer percentages would be a lot better if the questions related to American Idol trivia.)

 

[k1xv]

quote:

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Originally posted by labman:
So how often when you did give up and ask directions, did anybody know?

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I never ask directions since I now drive with mapping GPS.

 

[chas3]

i have a problem with the following statement:

quote:

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# Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely spoken native language.

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this is a bit of a trick question. no english is not the most widely spoken native language. however it is probably the most widely spoken language. most non-native speakers learn english as a second language.

btw, this only works if you group all the dialects of mandarin together into a single category. if you learn "standard mandarin" in school, i would argue its not natively spoken.