Americans and Geography.. ouch
 

Just talked to a mate of mine that watched United States vs Norway yesterday (yep you trashed us).. he recieved the weirdest questions from a group that sat next to him and a german friend.. is norway really a country? where in asia does it belong? they also wondered if germany was on the east coast somewhere..

I know we often make fun of "less gifted" americans, BUT seriously, are americans really that clueless about the rest of the world or are we talking about only the few % here?

I've heard that like half of them couldn't place canada on a map cauz they only learn the US map in geography... I don't know if that's true, but if it is, that's sad.

The majority of Americans aren't that stupid.
But in my experience....

Most nations have an idiot percentage of around 10%-15% of the population. I would guess the United States is probably closer to 20%-25%.

I think it depends where you are and who you're talking to.

I was driving across Texas 20 years ago and met an American who thought London, England was on the East Coast, he then asked if it was in Canada. Eventually I told him I was a Limey.

Then he knew I was not American, but I was still not convinced he could tell where the UK is.

The problem is the education and the News programs, mostly it's about the major points of US history and local news.

lol was just gonna post that :)

once an american guy (about 23) asked me if adolf hitler still ruled germany


hes wad deadlys serious

Everytime I see this map this cracks me up. Here be the dragons ! lolol

what a stupid guess... there's obviously no way you can verify this...

idiots are everywhere.... nothing new about that

I couldn't name all the capitals of africa, or place all of the countries on the map.

It all depends what your education system considers important, and after that what YOU find intresting. For example, I could name most asian and south-american capitals and place the countries on the map because I've pondered about travelling there.. africa, no thanks. = No intrest, no knowledge.
What this boils down to, atleast according to my observations of this board, americans have no plans to visit other countries other than mexico or canada. Why should they care what lies where.

I was lucky that I had a teacher in high school that insisted we learned world geography. At the start of the year she gave us a map of the world with all the names removed and in order to pass the class we had to be able to fill all the names and capitals in from memory with only two mistakes allowed. We had to take it over and over until we could do it. At the time we bitched but it was a fantastic assigment that has helped me understand the world better many times over as an adult.

Limited geography knowledge isn't limited to Americans (I know a lot of British people that know where the UK, France, USA and maybe Australia are on the map) but we don't really value geography in school as much as we should.

I have a friend who asked me if we celebrated the 4th of july in Norway as well.

you folks keep making fun of america, but you think soccer (futbol) is a good sport!

i'd love to see one of the pansy soccer players in a cage match vs. any football player, hockey player or basketball player (beckham vs. shaq?):winkwink: :winkwink: :winkwink:

Well, the soccer players could run for 90 minutes so might just outrun then all.

Its not like its written down or anything, give them a break. Maybe if there was some type of map or globe they could look at, then they would know

</sarcasm>

hockey players are just as fit...

yeah but those pesky ice skates aren't that easy to run in

there are 20 million US soccer players so futbol is pretty widely accepted over there aswell..

you are counting 5 yearolds forced to play this sport by their parents...seriously, soccer isn't a major sport here yet...it will be one day, based on the growth of youth programs and MLS, but it's still under the radar

you all missed the main reason, which is: we couldn't careless about you or where you live :1orglaugh

Until they come knocking on the door with planes turned into bombs.

I get frustrated by the general notion that is isn't important to have knowledge.

american business gotta get hurt by that aswell..

No wonder America annoy the rest of the world whe they don't even know where the rest of the world is...

I love it when you guys refer to American's as "they" ... as if there is not grey area.

Makes you look like a retard is what it does :thumbsup

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Not in the US or canada. But it's definitly growing quickly. It's a great sport.

Texans must drag down the average US IQ by several points:

- on more than one occasion my English wife has been asked by a Texan where she learned English. When replying "England" the response was "I didn't know they spoke English there".

- A Texan once tried to convince me that England was a country just off the coast of Britain. When I told him I was English and that his geographical knowledge was lacking, he told me that I was Australian and I was making it up.

Can you imagine how bad things would be if they had a Texan as president? :helpme

:Oh crap

these threads always make me think of team america:world police

"america, fuck yeeeeeah!"

remember, 51% of the country didn't vote republican (bush) ...don't hate us all

Yes they are.

They think they are alone in this universe.

Thats true as well :(

well they are 'they' when i'm from scotland

How can there be a grey area?
Not us = they
chinese are also = they
french are also = they

..you get the point?

less than 15% of the US population will ever apply for a passport and fewer than 5% will every actually leave the country. Most Americans look at the rest of the world as if it's a bad TV show.

you have no idea what you're missing
the most beautiful places on Earth are in Africa

I don't want to die before I visit at least another 10 African countries, if you don't believe me just Google images from Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Mozambique..........

and contrary to the popular belief most of the African countries are pretty safe for tourists, even in South Africa if you have some common sense you should have no problems whatsoever

All of those steroid freaks would be no match for ANY rugby player :2 cents:

re world pic above - :1orglaugh :1orglaugh That is fantastic - haven't seen that image before - definitely a keeper!

yes, rugby players take no steroids...right...

Bingo. The average American doesn't have anything practical to gain from learning world geography. Europeans are much more well-educated in this regard than are Americans, simply because they are in close proximity to neighboring countries.

America is an incredibly diverse place, and the average person can travel it a whole lifetime and still not see everything there is to be seen. Unless an American's business/job is globally oriented, or he plans to travel the world, there isn't much to be gained by learning world geography. Every time I see one of these surveys, the only thing it tells me that the average American has little use for or desire to learn trivia.

I know. I've been to egypt and israel. I have yet to travel the dark-continent extensively though. I plan to atleast take a trip to south-africa at some point, and possibly kenya or some other place where I can see ligers.

Fuck Norway!
We colonized them until recently, then they stole our oil. :(
At least we have a better soccer team :winkwink:

But if you want to know why this is, just think about the size of the US. It isn't like living in Europe where international travel is only an hour away; in order for most Americans to leave the US the travel is very expensive and very time consuming. So if they have a few thousand dollars to spend on a vacation (which is an expensive vacation to most people) they can spend 50% or more of that money and a couple days of their time on airfare or they can travel to another region of the US for a fraction of the cost and see a completely different geography, climate, and a somewhat different culture within our own borders.

You'd be surprised how few take that sort of crap.

Couldn't agree more. The three states I've spent the most time in are California, Montana and New York, and the people and places are totally different:

- Californians treat me as if I'm the first English person they've ever seen ("You're English? Wow, that's like so cool!").
- Montanans treat me as if I'm from another planet ("This is a tel-e-phone. You can use it to speak to people who aren't here").
- New Yorkers couldn't give a shit where I'm from ("You're English? Must be another tourist").

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

heh good one..

We might actually buy your puny country soon with that oil money, and turn it into valet parking. :winkwink:

America has the same problem as most countries.. as you get more into the country you find less concern with world issues or geography. Those living in a large metropolis do have more knowledge of whats happening in the world and yes - do know where Canada is not too mention other countries.

I don't feel that Americans are any more stupid % wise - arrogance - that's another matter

check this one out:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...06&q=geography