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

[iamjonah]

What kind of map was it?

For example, some people might have trouble with this map (most should be able to find it, though):
http://www.quadibloc.com/maps/images/augobl.gif

 

[blxtnsq]

I had a teacher in 5th grade who had us memorize all of the 50 states and their capitals in the US.

And I was able to name most countries in the world when I was 13...
Though that was mostly because of me playing Hearts of Iron.
Huh, what do you know? A computer game that taught me something.

And I have met Americans who are under the impression that most of http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.242401-Is-it-true-that-one-thrid-of-americans-can-find-america-on-a-map?page=3#comment_formEurope lives in villages without any technology after 1900...

You could name nearly all the countries in the world?
You have to be shitting me. There are roughly 200 recognised countries in the world (it goes up and down depending on whether you count independent states etc.)
I'll be impressed if you can name 50 off the top of your head.

My Junior year I took a final for geography that consisted of nothing else but filling in every country in the world, yeah. Made a 100 on it, but I doubt I could do it right now, would have to restudy.

As for naming 50 though... take it Yakko!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtdQ8bTvRc

Fair enough then. We used to do stuff like that in year 7 but with the capital cities
And now that song is going to be stuck in my head all night *le sigh*

 

[deleted_scifidownbeat]

DELETED

 

[Tsaba]

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?

Maybe 1/3rd of a hillbilly population can't find the US on a map.
Seriously though where did you hear this, can you post a source?

 

[Eumersian]

I have trouble believing that, but if it's true, I am very disappointed in my nation's populace.

 

[Jerious1154]

I probably know several hundred Americans, and every single one of them can locate the US on a map. People are not that stupid. The more telling study is that only 1/3 of Americans can locate Iraq on a map. People know where the US is, they just don't know where anything else is.

Also, to any Brits on their high horses, 50% of British people don't know where their heart is. People are idiots everywhere.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8092930.stm

 

[Ampersand]

I believe it. ^_^

 

[Dr.A]

Is that one third of ALL Americans?
Because that can be accounted for by thinking about all the poor people who haven't had an education (and even some of them know, I'm sure) and of course, all the little kids who don't even know what a map is.

There are a lot more people in America than just teens and adults.

 

[Player 2]

I had a teacher in 5th grade who had us memorize all of the 50 states and their capitals in the US.

And I was able to name most countries in the world when I was 13...
Though that was mostly because of me playing Hearts of Iron.
Huh, what do you know? A computer game that taught me something.

And I have met Americans who are under the impression that most of Europe lives in villages without any technology after 1900...

You could name nearly all the countries in the world?
You have to be shitting me. There are roughly 200 recognised countries in the world (it goes up and down depending on whether you count independent states etc.)
I'll be impressed if you can name 50 off the top of your head.

Naming 50 countries is easy, you should have given him something difficult, like name all 50 European countries. I can only remember 38 and I live in Europe.

 

[tahrey]

I don't think most Americans are stupid ... but then again there's enough of you guys pledging your support to the TEA party, Glenn Beck and all those arseholes who, to the legally sane outsider, appear to have stepped out of a cartoon set in bizarro crazy land that it's almost certainly going to swing the balance of power in the senate AND house of reps. What the hell?
(My theory with them is that they're just incredibly bitter at 51% of their countrymen having voted for a president that embodies everything they hate with a burning passion, particularly equality, which is apparently a sign that you're a godless communist rather than... yknow... christian in your beliefs... Think about that for a bit. Though there's plenty of reasonable human beings with sympathies on either side of the house, the more fundamental Republicans strike me as VERY sore losers, which is a Bad Thing politically speaking, and I'm not going to risk automatically losing my own argument by pointing out why.)

As for finding places on a map, the stereotype is one of an American tourist being the one who looks for Lie-sessta square in Leicester itself, asks where you have to go in London to get to Scotland and all that, being shocked that there's a whole lot more landmass to france than la tour eiffel and the louvre placed neatly inside the circuit of the arc de triomphe (and that people can actually drive around it without dying or getting lost)... etc etc. It's maybe unfair, but stereotypes tend to arise from common, true situations before getting twisted into a cariacture.
I'm not too surprised though. The states are VAST. Seriously. If I try to look around an area of the country on Gmaps at about the same scale that would let me view the entire of, say, Wales or Denmark, I end up getting lost and not even knowing which end of it I'm at. The list of major cities alone is just stupid, it's little wonder there's no mental space left with which to pay attention to the layout of a world that doesn't much affect you unless you go out and purposefully travel around it - or even to work out quite where you are amongst it.

Besides, navigational/cartological blindness (I hesitate to use "geographical" because technically geography is the study of environmental features and systems, not the arrangement of human places - unless they affect said environment) isn't an exclusively US thing. It's just more obvious for some reason, possibly because it's a populous and powerful country. Amongst my own family and friends the skill level varies wildly, from almost autistically good with no concept that other people could have trouble/aren't bleedin' psychic (a certain friend ), down to absolutely hopeless and barely able to find their way home WITH a Satnav (my brother, who couldn't even figure out how to get north/south out of our home city, or what the nearest neighbours were, even with a map and following the signs - I wouldn't dare set him loose in Europe).

You could name nearly all the countries in the world?
You have to be shitting me. There are roughly 200 recognised countries in the world (it goes up and down depending on whether you count independent states etc.)
I'll be impressed if you can name 50 off the top of your head.

Having actually made a quiz based off naming all the countries in Europe (the continent, not the union) on a blanked map, I'll rise to that challenge. No cheating.

For a start... The United Kingdom of Great Britain containing 1. England, 2. Wales, 3. Scotland, 4. Northern Ireland (and notionally the Isle of Man, Berwick on Sea, the Channel and Falkland Islands and Gibraltar); 5. The Republic of Ireland (Eiréann); 6. France, 7. Belgium, 8. Luxembourg, 9. Liechtenstein, 10. Holland/The Netherlands (Nederland), 11. Denmark, 12. Germany, 13. Austria, 14. Switzerland, 15. Portugal, 16. Spain, 17. Andorra, 18. San Marino, 19. Monaco, 20. Italy; The former Yugoslav states of 21. Slovenia, 22. Croatia, 23. Serbia, 24. Montenegro, 25. Bosnia (incl. Kosovo, can't remember if they actually gained independence yet), 26. Macedonia; 27. Greece; The former Czechoslovakia, ie 28. Slovakia and 29. The Czech Republic; 30. Poland, 31. Hungary, 32. Romania, 33. Bulgaria; The former Soviet provinces of 34. Lithuania, 35. Estonia, 36. Latvia, 37. Ukraine, 38. Georgia, 39. Khazakstan (yes honestly), (insert a fortieth one here whose entry to the Eurovision contest I can remember vividly, but not the actual country name) aaaand 40. RUSSIA (west of the Urals); 41. Norway, 42. Sweden, 43. Finland, 44. Israel, 45. Palestine, 46. Jordan, 47. Syria, 48. Malta, 49. Turkey, 50. Vatican City.
Crap, I've missed someone somewhere. There were like 54 in total I could swear....

51. Iceland?
52. Sealand
53. That ex-USSR one mentioned above....
54. ??? (probably either another ex-Soviet, or "Holy Land" state)

And that's without going into Africa (which is a whole other game in itself), the Arabian peninsula, Indic subcontinent, Asia proper, Oceania, or the Americas. The poles, of course, aren't included as the southern one is officially neutral (with certain parts *controlled* by various states in a pact arrangement) and the northern is just floating pack ice.


Let's give you a few more for free as I'm waiting for my internet connection to reboot before submitting.

The component parts of the United States of America... I will NOT get all these, despite them often being pub quiz questions:
55. District of Columbia, 56. Alabama, 57. Arkansas, 58. Colorado, 59. North Dakota, 60. South Dakota, 61. Georgia (the second), 62. Indiana, 63. Iowa, 64. Idaho, 65. Illinois, 67. Kentucky, 68. Kansas (or am I imagining that one?), 69. Mississipi, 70. Missouri, 71. Michigan, 72. Nebraska (wait ... is that Canadian?), 73. Nevada, 74. Arizona, 75. Oklahoma, 78. Oregon, 79. New York (state), 80. California, 81. Florida, 82. Texas, 83. New Mexico, 84. Montana, 85. Wyoming, 86. Washington (state), 87. Alaska.... err...

Wow I suck at this, there's still 17 of them missing. Apologies to anyone who's offended that I've mentally erased the place of their birth or where they make their home, I hope I've got enough of the "important" ones. Everyone else is still there, merely listed under "generic USA". (Maryland? Tennessee? Philadelphia? There's a few other names swimming round my head but I'm wary of accidentally upgrading cities to statehood ... don't even think about asking me to name capitals btw!)

Also 88. Canada, 89. Mexico. 90. Puerto Rico.

Other middle/south America and islands
91. Columbia, 92. Venezuela, 93. Guatamala, 94. Cuba, 95. Barbados, 96. Jamaica, 97. Haiti, (Bermuda... though still part of Britain? erm), 98. Ecuador, 99. Peru, 100. Brazil, 101. Argentina, 102. Chile, 103. St Lucia, 104. Paraguay, 105. Panama, 106. Trinidad and Tobago, 107. Montevideo (hang on, that might be a capital of somewhere), 108. French Guiana... and a handful of others whose existance I know of but can never remember until someone else mentions them and i'm all like ... duhhh, of course (same as with the USA member states).

109, all out by themselves, the Azores.

Arabian peninsula: 110. Saudia Arabia, 111. Yemen, 112. UAE, 113. Qatar, 114. Iraq (and that place Saddam tried invading if'n indeed it wasn't Qatar itself), maybe another too.

Africa is a complete pain:
115. Egypt, 116. Libya, 117. Tunisia, 118. Morocco (and a little bit of Spain in between them, across from Gibralta), 119. Western Sahara, 120. Burkina Faso, 121. Chad, 122. Ivory Coast, 123. The Gambia, 124. Ethiopia, 125. Eritrea, 126. Kenya, 127. Democratic Republic of Congo, 128. Zimbabwe, 129. Zaire (if that hasn't actually turned into Congo. Erm), 129. Somalia, 130. South Africa, 131. Botswana, 132. Mozambique, 133. Lethoso (...again, I think?), 134. Sudan, and a pile of others who just never get much exposure and so are tricky to remember. Plus at least one more famous one which has just evaporated from my mind. Tonga? Does that still exist?

Subcontinent: 135. India, 136. Pakistan (I'm not going to give Kashmir a number as I don't want to be nuked), 137. Bangladesh, and maybe another? Plus some islands?

Asia: 138. People's Republic of China inc. Hong Kong (i am NOT going to say Tibet is either way), 139. Krgyzstan (maybe in europe?), 140. Iran (JUST), 141. Mongolia, 142. Vietnam, 143. North Korea, 144. South Korea, 145. Thailand, 146. The Phillipines, 147. Singapore, 148. Taiwan, 149. Burma/Myanmar, 150. Brunei, 151. Papua, 152. New Guinea, 153. Japan... Plus all of Russia east of the Urals, and a gaggle of others.

Oceania: 154. Federated states of Micronesia, 155. Australia, 156. New Zealand, 157. Easter Island. Not sure if Tasmania is seperate. Maybe some of the Asian ones actually count too.

Is that enough to keep you satisfied for a bit?

Oh aye and I forgot, in Europe - 158. Corfu (north and south, if you want a 159).

There's enough there to arrive at a total of at least 160 genuine ones. Do I pass?


EDIT: Ah, almost forgot: 159. Albania, 160. Hawai'i, 161. Pennsylvania, 162. Louisiana, 163/4 North & South Carolina (so that's only 12 US states still missing... lol)

 

[wammnebu]

The other 2/3 just own a map of the us, so pointing is redundant

 

[ProfessorLayton]

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;

-snip-

You know... there's something called editing. Even though that video is pretty funny.

And I really don't think that's true. Even the people in my history class year who couldn't point out France on a map could at least get the US. And also... have you ever seen a poll on the Escapist where there is a "yes" or "no" question with a silly third option and you find that more people voted for the silly third option than yes or no? Yeah...

 

[Thebiggestpanda]

I actually know several people who thought that Alaska was an island. I live in Ohio.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

As much as it shames me to admit it, the fact that one-third of Americans can't find America on a map is more true than I'd like to admit. I don't know if a third of us aren't that good at geography, but I do know that alot of us aren't. I remember in high school a lot of kids absolutly sucking at geography wondering if one country's capital was located in another. It might have just been my area, but I wouldn't be surprised if a decent number of Americans are that ignorant.

 

[xmbts]

I suck pretty bad at geography but I at least know my continents and a good number of countries. (Cities and landmarks are a different story though)

Either way I'm sure there are some people who don't know but I doubt an entire third or us. Unless maybe they count all the babies and children who haven't seen a globe or map yet.

 

[Mikazuki]

I certainly hope that's not true...

Is it?

 

[tahrey]

I live in Ohio.

DAAAMN IIIT. Sorry 'bout that.
OK, you're no. 165, and there's 11 states to go (or maybe 8, if my "???" ones were actually correct). Aha. 166. West Virginia (7~10 left). And in Africa, 167. Tanzania. (and 168. Central African Republic? I'm not sure if it's real but I seem to remember being amazed at a country with such an anodyne name previously. Also 169. Niger and 170... of course... the big one... country of a million billionaire bankers... NIGERA!)

Now how many of those do you think I can successfully point to on a map? More than half would be extremely good going. A third, if we exclude those that are large islands, in western europe or north america... and capital/major cities, argh. Plus I'd be fairly rubbish not only at the component parts of Canada and Australia, but also many of the counties in the UK.

Still, pretty much everyone should know where at least USA, China and Russia are.

Nnngh. 171. Rhode Island. Wonder what the last 6~9 will be. I know I have a friend that lives in one of them!.... ah! 172. Wisconsin, 173. Massachusetts, 174. Indiana (and New Hampshire? 2~6 left... oooh so close!)

Fun fact: One-third of people reading this thread will fail to notice that it says "one thrid of americans". A further third will fail to notice it says "american" without a capital, and (uncapitalised) "america" without the "united states of", presumably meaning the whole interconnected north and south supracontinent.

 

[Warped_Ghost]

I don't know about the geography question but every person I talk to who went to the states (Im in Canada) told me how they were able to convince southern americans that we lived in igloos and canoed to school. They didn't just go up and try to convince them though.... the people came up and asked if it was true, they just went along with it.

What I'm trying to say is that 1/3 is probably southern states.

 

[Junkle]

I severely doubt this. I live in America. This means that 33.33% of the people who I know don't know where America is.
There's no way that this is even close. I'd say 1, maybe 2%.
Maybe I live in an area with a good concentration of smart people.
Or maybe they surveyed 3 people, and one of them couldn't place it. That would get exactly the same result.

Finally, I'd hazard a guess that this is just one of those rumors.
And to back that up... EVIDENCE!
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/findings.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/pdf/FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.pdf

If you read through this, you'll find that 94% of the people they surveyed could and did find America on a map. With 90-ish% finding Canada and Mexico. It's when they got to Europe and thereabouts that things went downhill, usually ending up about 40% there.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

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.

idk about you (since every state has its own education system, you know) but I took World Geography my Freshman year of high school in Texas. It was in the "social studies" department, which was basically just History after that class.