Is it true that one thrid of americans can find america on a map?

[Plazmatic]

I dunno... but Geography was always my best subject... Freshman year, the only year got an A was in geography with 99.3%...<.<
really something from a C and D student...<.<

you mean 6th grade right? theres no such thing as geography in high school or college. Unless of course you have that confused with history, which is NOT geography.

No, I took geography in high school...<.< it was mandatory...

??? since when is geography a highschool course? are your education standards lower than those of the US? or do you live in the US and are in one of THOSE states.

Yeah, pointing out places on a map is not a very hard skill to learn. You should have probably been learning about Modern US history, (possibly just US history I guess, but you kind of learn that in middle school or World history where you learn that the United states was a very imperialist nation not so long ago (and to an extent today) and that Germany didn't start the first world war. You would have learned that Europeans were once the brute savages of the old world and the Han empire was the longest standing and most efficient empire of the pre-industrial world.

But of course if you took Geography you would have learned none of that stuff.

I live in California...<.<

We were required 4 years of history including geography but geography, U.S. History, World History were all required... the last one we had a choice of taking US government instead... besides I took geography in 5th grade as well...

well then, what did you learn in geography?

basically we learned about other cultures around the world and that's pretty much it...

....

"Geography: the study of the earth's surface"


and


"-Humanities-

Humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences.
Examples of the disciplines of the humanities are ancient and modern languages, literature, law, history, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts (including music). Additional subjects sometimes included in the humanities are technology, anthropology, area studies, communication studies, cultural studies, and linguistics, although these are often regarded as social sciences. "

point executed.

Now go tell those dumb-ass school superintendents of your to use the right word for the right course, or don't use the word at all.

we learned about the Earth's surface too but it always felt secondary...<.< and rather pointless since we were never tested on it anyway...

well what ever, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you were ignorant.

 

[Marik2]

I read on this website (news.com) that recent studies showed that the majority of Americans are heavily ignorant of basic geography and that one third of Americans can't find America on a map. When i read this i thought that has to be dodgy. Is it?

LOL when I saw your title I thought you were gonna post this.

 

[silversnake4133]

Yeah, because everyone else on this planet is that much smarter. Seriously guys do we really need another thread like this? Is it really that ground-breaking of a topic? How about this then, what if I was browsing the internet when all of a sudden I came across this article that read "45% of all German students are part of a Neo-Nazi gang" or "4/5ths of all Brazilians wear bikinis/speedos", or something else that was either stereotypical or demeaning to others living in said country, I imagine that after a while some people would begin to think of these things as being unnecessary.

So answer me this OP, why did you feel that this was necessary to post? I can gather that this sparked a question in your mind, and you sought answers, or perhaps you just wanted to start up conversations with other people on this site. However, I'm pretty sure that this sort of topic can easily be answered by doing some research. If you're really that interested, look for sites that end in either .edu, .org, or .gov. You can also look for survey sites and census sites to find out how much 1/3rd of America's population would amount to and begin to draw conclusions from that. Also, check the validity of that site. If it's just a local news station (which most of them are) they probably won't have the resources, nor the time to survey all of the people that would be included in that 1/3rd of the total population of the United States of America. (Why else do you think the Census is carried out every 10 years?)

So in conclusion fellow members of the Escapist, I can understand that it's great that you guys want to start discussions on news topics, or seek answers to burning questions. However, do we really need 1 million and one threads about how one country is so horrible? I thought name calling was a kindergarden issue that would otherwise be resolved by the time children could tie their shoes. After all, I would think that you would find it less and less humorous every time you open the forums to have a lovely discussion with other members, only to find every other post relating to something that was damaging to your home country in some way regardless of your current residence.

 

[Death God]

America is stupid but not that stupid. I'd say 1/4 and that is still bad. I live in america and I have to say... we're not the smartest. Come back in 300 years and we may be able to figure out that beer, makes us do funny things.

I'd lean against insinuating that other cultures are intellectually challenged until I could form a grammatically correct and properly punctuated sentence. That being said;

I have to call that fake. At first I was losing hope in humanity, but when they asked people to place a flag where america should invade, and EVERYONE goes to Australia, it looks staged. Just saying.

 

[Flac00]

Yeah it's true. It's also true that all black people are either pimps, gangsters or jazz musicians.

I'm hoping that is sarcasm

 

[Lilani]

Oh, that's the kind of ignorant stereotype that just pisses me off.
It's just stupid to think that most Americans can't find America on a map.
Hell without looking, right now I can tell you that its right next to Iceland.

Ha!

If you think 1/3 qualifies as "most" of something, then obviously the stereotype isn't that far off after all.

 

[y1fella]

Yeah, because everyone else on this planet is that much smarter. Seriously guys do we really need another thread like this? Is it really that ground-breaking of a topic? How about this then, what if I was browsing the internet when all of a sudden I came across this article that read "45% of all German students are part of a Neo-Nazi gang" or "4/5ths of all Brazilians wear bikinis/speedos", or something else that was either stereotypical or demeaning to others living in said country, I imagine that after a while some people would begin to think of these things as being unnecessary.

So answer me this OP, why did you feel that this was necessary to post? I can gather that this sparked a question in your mind, and you sought answers, or perhaps you just wanted to start up conversations with other people on this site. However, I'm pretty sure that this sort of topic can easily be answered by doing some research. If you're really that interested, look for sites that end in either .edu, .org, or .gov. You can also look for survey sites and census sites to find out how much 1/3rd of America's population would amount to and begin to draw conclusions from that. Also, check the validity of that site. If it's just a local news station (which most of them are) they probably won't have the resources, nor the time to survey all of the people that would be included in that 1/3rd of the total population of the United States of America. (Why else do you think the Census is carried out every 10 years?)

So in conclusion fellow members of the Escapist, I can understand that it's great that you guys want to start discussions on news topics, or seek answers to burning questions. However, do we really need 1 million and one threads about how one country is so horrible? I thought name calling was a kindergarden issue that would otherwise be resolved by the time children could tie their shoes. After all, I would think that you would find it less and less humorous every time you open the forums to have a lovely discussion with other members, only to find every other post relating to something that was damaging to your home country in some way regardless of your current residence.

The purpose of my thread wasn't name calling i just wanted answer. that's it. end statement. And the website is actually pretty reliable.

 

[blxtnsq]

Snipped!

Haha! Well done, you most definitely pass
I always have trouble with South America and Africa. And I ALWAYS get bits of Europe wrong because I can't remember whether they are independent or not (like is it Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland or just the United Kingdom?) which is an important one and I know I am silly for forgetting.

 

[Talshere]

I dunno... but Geography was always my best subject... Freshman year, the only year got an A was in geography with 99.3%...<.<
really something from a C and D student...<.<

Since when did geography have anything to do with knowing where countries are?

Apart from "this type of feature is most commonly found around the yellow river in china", or "this program of management was trailed in Egypt", actual locations are almost never discussed.

since it was invented... especially since cartography is a form of geography...<.<

While later uses of geography may well become more location based. We are talking school. Having done geography as a choice at secondary school(15-16) and later at college as an A level (16-18) and am now doing Geological Oceanography as a degree (18-21) I can safly say that school and college level geography contains locations only as "this forms in these regions" and degree level, unless you do a cartography based degree, certainly geology is locations only for examples. Ive NEVER been asked to answer a question in geography on the lines of "where is africa" "Where is Thailand" "Where is the Indian Ocean" "Where is Iran" "Where is mississippi". It just doesnt happen. There is an expectation that you will know these things but your never tought it.

 

[punkrocker27]

so you just point out countries on a map? thats not a class and serves no use.

I will seek your reply on this, and if you reply what what I think you are going to say, you mean history, {bunch of non-related bs.} Geography was a class taken in elementary school, and LIKE ITS NAME SUGGESTS we learned where countries and states were.

Then I assume you can tell me where Kurdistan is located, or explain to me how Alfred Weber's least cost theory works, or even give me the definition of fertility rate. Maybe they didn't teach the course at whatever high school you attended because, in the United States, THERE IS NO NATIONAL CURRICULUM. Any idiot who graduated first grade would know that.

Human geography is the study of human use and understanding of the world and the processes which have affected it. It's the basis for pretty much everything about everything that has to do with the Earth's people. So no, we did not sit there all damn day long and point out countries on a fucking map.

Now I suggest you pull out a map of your area and point out for yourself exactly where the local unemployment office is, or better yet, since you probably hang around there all the time, just go back to high school and find out about gettin that GED.

 

[tahrey]

Snipped!

Haha! Well done, you most definitely pass
I always have trouble with South America and Africa. And I ALWAYS get bits of Europe wrong because I can't remember whether they are independent or not (like is it Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland or just the United Kingdom?) which is an important one and I know I am silly for forgetting.

I ended up having to look in an atlas for something a few days after that (time zones... turns out atlases don't have them... teeny-tiny pocket diary did though*) and... omg, missed out SO MANY, in particular a good number of facepalmers. Going to try and learn ... well, pretty much the entire non-oceaniaic southern hemisphere now. The total is probably somewhere in the low 200s, maybe 220, rather than 200-dead.

* yeah i know, windows clock; it was my first instinct but my laptop threw a fit (somehow forgetting it actually had a built in panel) that was only later, and quite unbelievably, fixed by percussive maintenance following much dicking about with a scrounged VGA cable and our HDTV.

 

[brainslurper]

one third of americans are fucking retarded, so yeah i think it makes sence

Thats incorrect, according to south park 1/4 of Americans are retarded get your facts straight!!

we don't even condider the joo's opinion