Why 1/5 of Americans Can't Locate The U.S.

Allright the previous videos posted focused on the " brain" and its wrong usage (or non usage... due to the Homer Simpson's syndrome i presume) but what about the muscle? Well i got one not bad, take a look :

www.youtube.com...



[edit on 28-8-2007 by themaster1]

[edit on 28-8-2007 by themaster1]

[edit on 28-8-2007 by themaster1]

[edit on 28-8-2007 by themaster1]

[edit on 28-8-2007 by themaster1]

reply to post by xRedlinex


Haha, that's funny. I'M an American teenager, too! After my transition from English schooling to American, I found an absolutely fantastic difference: None of the classes in my new school have ever challenged me to THINK! Everything was patriotic, even if some was subtle!

...okay. All that aside, something really needs to be done in this country. But until I can get my parents and teachers to listen, I'll just sit quietly at the back of class reading Crime and Punishment. Haha, people care more about the latest hot band than the huge problems the US face today. And even disasters, us Americans are taught in a way that makes us blindly trust people to tell the truth about what happened, and leave it at that? I come up to someone with a few facts about what happened on 9/11 (Which makes no sense, the mm/dd/yy system. Seriously, why?) and they said "Our government would never do something like that".
The people are severely underestimating what humans are capable of.
Some humans are capable of mass murder and torture of cute fuzzy animals, yet the people I talk with every day can't believe that a government would kill it's people? Guess what Nazi Germany did, the Soviet Union, etc.

I personally think there needs to be more competition. Privatise schools, maybe?
That, and America really needs to wake up and smell the black coffee.

Well, while geography has never been one of my strong suits, I think it's sad that some can't even point out where their home country is on a map.

I have been pounding this home over and over and over again... If people would actually pick up a book and READ once and a while, maybe they wouldn't be so damned ignorant. Nah, their much too involved with what new video game is coming out or what new song hit the charts to do that though.

However, since we are talking IQs and stuff, the average IQ around the world is only like 85... So, to say that the average American IQ is 98, well, that sounds pretty good to me. Ignorance is rampant across the globe.

[edit on 28-8-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

Did anyone catch episodes of 'Beauty and the Geek'?

They had one challenge where the girls had a few days to prepare for about a dozen topics and then they were given one of them at random and had to give an answer on stage in front of a small audience.

One of them came out and must have realized immediately "I can't form a coherent thought about anything that's not about shoes", and wisely completely avoided the topic and talked about her wardrobe.

She got an applause and lots of laughter.

So, yes America, there are dumber blondes out there than even Miss Teen SC.

What's sad is that she goes on Matt Lauer the next day and they both give her high-fives for, uh courage in appearing on the show.

Why encourage 'dumbing down' in any way, even for humor's sake?

But in their defense, if they are taught all they have to do is look cute and succeed, even, at times, -because- they act so dumb, then why even try?

Originally posted by Badge01
Did anyone catch episodes of 'Beauty and the Geek'?

Shows like that kind of contribute to the problem. What message does the show relay to ignorant minds? That smart people are "ugly" and "geeky," while dumb people are "beautiful" and "charismatic." It just feeds the MYTH that you can't have both brains and looks.



[edit on 28-8-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

Originally posted by Badge01
One of them came out and must have realized immediately "I can't form a coherent thought about anything that's not about shoes", and wisely completely avoided the topic and talked about her wardrobe.

I doubt her parents had the foresight to educate her about anything other than shoes. And I certainly doubt she would know the definition of the word coherent.

I was talking with one of my female friends on the phone last night about this very subject. When I started talking about how parents need to take more responsibility and initiative in educating their children (since it's obvious our school system won't), she simply laughed it off and talked about the new cell phone she bought her kid. At that point, I no longer felt like having a conversation with her. Most kids today only want to "text" their friends and are at a loss for figuring out how to keep themselves busy if god forbid their cell phone gets taken away. It is a sad realization that these kids are the future leaders of our country. If I decide to have children of my own (which I'm not sure yet is a fair thing to bring them into the world we currently live in), I will probably home school them. To develop their social skills, I would enroll them in activities with other children.

There are three subjects that should be required curriculum in schools: history, geography, and survival skills -- for obvious reasons.

[edit on 8/28/2007 by pjslug]

it's simple, it's because they are rich enough to have someone else do it for them

Originally posted by pjslug

Originally posted by Badge01
. It is a sad realization that these kids are the future leaders of our country. If I decide to have children of my own (which I'm not sure yet is a fair thing to bring them into the world we currently live in), I will probably home school them. To develop their social skills, I would enroll them in activities with other children.

.

[edit on 8/28/2007 by pjslug]

the world needs ditch diggers to bro. Don't worry, you can still go to west point or the johns hopkins medical school and find youngsters with brains

Originally posted by pjslug
I doubt her parents had the foresight to educate her about anything other than shoes. And I certainly doubt she would know the definition of the word coherent.

I was talking with one of my female friends on the phone last night about this very subject. When I started talking about how parents need to take more responsibility and initiative in educating their children (since it's obvious our school system won't), she simply laughed it off and talked about the new cell phone she bought her kid. At that point, I no longer felt like having a conversation with her. Most kids today only want to "text" their friends and are at a loss for figuring out how to keep themselves busy if god forbid their cell phone gets taken away. It is a sad realization that these kids are the future leaders of our country. If I decide to have children of my own (which I'm not sure yet is a fair thing to bring them into the world we currently live in), I will probably home school them. To develop their social skills, I would enroll them in activities with other children.

There are three subjects that should be required curriculum in schools: history, geography, and survival skills -- for obvious reasons.

[edit on 8/28/2007 by pjslug]

^ Excellent post. I agree with you 200%!

Miss West Carolina gave a good response on the issue:

Thank you very much for that.

Now, having wet my pants laughing, I'll just be popping over to the bathroom for a rinse and change.

Please tell me she's having us on with that video...good lord.

Edit: OK, I watched the next vid in the card stack and I now get the joke. Pretty clever.


[edit on 29-8-2007 by Badge01]

Great video response. I'm laughing myself silly over here. Hey, what's a map? And more importantly, where's America on it? What's America?

Edit: I can't find America. Oh, duh, I forgot, I have no map. Of course I can't find it. So where's America?

[edit on 8/29/2007 by pjslug]

This just in from "Breaking" AOL news... it's amazing what they consider important:

Teen Beauty Queen Defends On-Air Goof

"I made a mistake," Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton says of her incoherent response to a question in the Miss Teen USA pageant last week. The 'Today' show gives her a second chance to get it right, and News Blogger Mo Rocca poses a challenge: Take her words and rearrange them to make sense.

AOL stuff

Second chance video

[edit on 8/29/2007 by pjslug]

Oh my god! If 1/5 americans cant point out america on the map, how can they find any other country!

This poses a serious problem if they are thinking about invading Iran.......wouldnt want to accidently invade New Zealand

Brilliant! This made my morning yesterday, and it's just done the same again today!

Have any of you had the opportunity (challenge) to speak in front of a crowd of strangers and TV cameras? If you did, you would most likely turn to stuttering, blushing, self-conscious stones the first few times. Your concentration would go out the window.

And that would be the case if you knew in advance the question you were going to be asked.

I look around at the spelling, punctuation, and grammar here, and I am astounded at the very low level of mastery some people have of their native language. And you use language much more often than you do a map.

So, don't be so smug and quick to laugh at this young lady. Examine yourself.

And, no, it isn't "Fox News viewers" only that have a problem. It's also many of you Cartoon Network and Comedy Central junkies.

reply to post by Moogsman

Originally posted by Moogsman
Here is the conspiracy that you will never notice..... You have been trained to hate America.

Many of your are so fast to jump on this "poll" without any facts. Why? Hate first I guess.

Excellent point, Moogsman. You've earned a star for that observation.

My Opinion

Not being able to locate the United States of America on a map in pretty bad,

but are you sure the statistic is correct? I personally think more people than

that can locate their own country on a map.

I can understand not being able to point out other obscure countries out on a

map, for example I wouldnt be able to locate Bahrain or Monaco on map!!

But I'm just not that intelligent.

anyway those are my opinions

It also could be the simple fact that approximately 1/5 of the people currently living in the United States are not nationals. I dont think Geography is a requirement for citizenship here.

Originally posted by Carnap
It also could be the simple fact that approximately 1/5 of the people currently living in the United States are not nationals. I dont think Geography is a requirement for citizenship here.

Well, that's funny... They didn't seem to have any problem finding their way here.