cnn.com — After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed.Thirty-three percent of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana on a map.
May 2, 2006 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountMay 3, 2006
What? are the students supposed to memorize where every country on Earth is? What does it matter? How is this useful? This is the reason we have maps and globes. We should focus on more important matters in school like reading, math, and science.
shirosamuraiMay 3, 2006
America is, unfortunately, becoming less educated with each generation. It's a simple fact. I'm a senior in high school right now, and when I look at the way the majority of my classmates write, and how so many of them cant even point out the most obvious countries on a map.. it's pretty disturbing. A girl in our class went up to the world map, pointed at Canada and thought it was Russia. Pointed at Australia and thought it was France. I go to a public school.. it has budget problems, but its nowhere near as bad as inner city schools like in New York and LA. But even so, it astounds me how dumb some people are around here. Dont get me wrong, we do have our fair share of bright students, but I can just see even with each passing year kids are getting more ignorant and more intolerant. I for one, am I taking my leave after I finish college. It wouldn't surprise me to see a trend of people beginning to leave America, because the way things are going, its only a matter of time before things REALLY start falling apart.
Closed AccountMay 3, 2006
This is kind of off topic, but I once played "name all 50 states in 5 minutes." Well, after 5 minutes, I only had 39 but I kept going. After an hour I was convinced my government was lying to me about 50 states. I was sooo sure there were only 49. A while later, I cheated and got Iowa and Idaho. OK, now I've got 51. Crap. Turns out Washington DC isn 't a state. This doesn't make me look good, but its true and now I know. And knowing is half the battle.
Closed AccountMay 3, 2006
DanAtkinson: you are right on the money. It's true: no one understands Americans better than foreigners. You guys always know how to call it. Hats off to you, sir.
waveyMay 4, 2006
Geeze, I guess my joke was totally lost on some folks. I was just making a reference to being so geographically inept that I have no idea where....oh never mind; it was just a silly joke anyway and if I have to go to lengths to explain it, it's killed.
hoofpijnMay 4, 2006
My girlfriend is a teacher and I can say that from the stories she tells me, this is right on the money.
hoofpijnMay 5, 2006
Oh I'm sorry, I thought you said that Americans don't care about what's happening across the border. Did I read that wrong? I suppose also that American money and manpower is less effective since it's a smaller percentage of what we have. Perhaps we should just keep our money next time since by your accounting, it's not as valuable as the rest of the world's. Somehow I don't think the people on the receiving end of the money cared what percentage of GDP the money and assistance reflected. That was only important to self satisfied America haters looking for one more reason to confirm that "America Sucks". I never said we gave more than anyone else did I? I didn't minimize the efforts of other countries did I? I don't think I did. Wait, let me scroll up and check.......Nope I didn't. That's not something I would do. I simply stated that we gave. Even though many probably didn't know where the Indian ocean was, we gave. If you don't think we gave enough then that's fine but don't minimize our contribution, because it was significant and I believe it made a difference. As did the rest of the world's.If it makes you feel better about yourself to imagine that geographical knowledge is some kind of measurement for intelligence or compassion then, by all means feel good about yourself. I have no problem admitting that a large percentage US citizens are not interested in geography. Most of us can't afford to go see the rest of the world and I suppose that makes us less concerned with where things are. I will disagree however, with the idea that it means that Americans don't care about other places and other people because my experience living here tells me that is not true.Oh and thanks for insulting my math skills along the way. I think they're okay since I seem to get by but I appreciate you taking the time to insult me both as an American citizen and personally. You clearly know more about me than I know about myself.Thanks again.
thenino85May 5, 2006
Why does everyone here assume that the Europeans and various other European offshoots performed any better? Do you have data to confirm that? I'd go out and look for some papers written on the subject, you might be surprised by what you find.