RE: Americans ignorant to geography

Collarspace Discussion Forums

Home Login Search

RE: Americans ignorant to geography

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> RE: Americans ignorant to geography

Page: << < prev 1 [2] 3 4 5 next > >>

Login

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 3:11:28 PM

FullCircle

Posts: 5713
Joined: 11/24/2005
Status: offline

Its peoples own fault for not making their countries names memorable they all need to be re branded for the current generation. I’ve jotted down some ideas below:

Sri Lanka should be from this point known as Tiger Tiger
The US should be called USure?
Ermmm ok I’ve ran out of ideas now.

_____________________________

∞ ﮒuקּƹɼ ƾɛϰưϫԼ Ƨωιϯϲћ.

(in reply to Arpig)

Post #: 21

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 3:45:59 PM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

I've always loved maps, and geography.

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to FullCircle)

Post #: 22

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 3:57:50 PM

FullCircle

Posts: 5713
Joined: 11/24/2005
Status: offline

Hummm you could be on to something Mr Level I’ll start printing some Atlases in magazine format this instant for them young trendy types. And and I shall add which celebrities are from which countries in the border.

_____________________________

∞ ﮒuקּƹɼ ƾɛϰưϫԼ Ƨωιϯϲћ.

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 23

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:05:09 PM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: FullCircle

Hummm you could be on to something Mr Level I’ll start printing some Atlases in magazine format this instant for them young trendy types. And and I shall add which celebrities are from which countries in the border.

FC, I'm sure that'll go over well; maybe we can get Paris Hilton to carry one of them around? Better yet, have her pointing to France...... get it? Paris?

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to FullCircle)

Post #: 24

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:09:32 PM

philosophy

Posts: 5284
Joined: 2/15/2004
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

FC, I'm sure that'll go over well; maybe we can get Paris Hilton to carry one of them around? Better yet, have her pointing to France...... get it? Paris?

..oh hell, send her to Paris, Texas........Europe has enough of it's own troubles surely........

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 25

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:13:53 PM

FullCircle

Posts: 5713
Joined: 11/24/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level
FC, I'm sure that'll go over well; maybe we can get Paris Hilton to carry one of them around? Better yet, have her pointing to France...... get it? Paris?

That is pure genius Mr Level. Whatever it is they are paying you it isn’t enough.
Ooooo Where is Paris? You know like where is Wally but with Paris Hilton hiding in cultural pictures instead of Mr Wally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_Waldo

_____________________________

∞ ﮒuקּƹɼ ƾɛϰưϫԼ Ƨωιϯϲћ.

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 26

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:17:41 PM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: philosophy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

FC, I'm sure that'll go over well; maybe we can get Paris Hilton to carry one of them around? Better yet, have her pointing to France...... get it? Paris?

..oh hell, send her to Paris, Texas........Europe has enough of it's own troubles surely........

We must put such small matters aside, phil........ geography's needs must be met.... .......besides, I'm in Texas, we don't want her either.

< Message edited by Level -- 10/5/2007 4:20:12 PM >

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to philosophy)

Post #: 27

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:19:49 PM

Level

Posts: 25145
Joined: 3/3/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: FullCircle

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level
FC, I'm sure that'll go over well; maybe we can get Paris Hilton to carry one of them around? Better yet, have her pointing to France...... get it? Paris?

That is pure genius Mr Level. Whatever it is they are paying you it isn’t enough.
Ooooo Where is Paris? You know like where is Wally but with Paris Hilton hiding in cultural pictures instead of Mr Wally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_Waldo

Perhaps she can do a series on various nations' penal colonies........

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to FullCircle)

Post #: 28

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 4:56:02 PM

philosophy

Posts: 5284
Joined: 2/15/2004
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

Perhaps she can do a series on various nations' penal colonies........

.....as in venereal mold colonies?

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 29

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 10:39:50 PM

SuzanneKneeling

Posts: 233
Joined: 8/31/2005
Status: offline

A sad truth:

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."

-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" (ca. 1911)

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 30

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/5/2007 10:54:30 PM

SuzanneKneeling

Posts: 233
Joined: 8/31/2005
Status: offline

Yikes. Shivers. Shudder. This is exactly why we end up mired in places like Iraq. And piss off people to the point where they want to come here and kill Americans.

If you are content knowing nothing about the world beyond the Tastee Freeze at the end of your street, you leave your future to those who may not have your best interests at heart.

(in reply to CandyLover)

Post #: 31

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 12:00:29 AM

popeye1250

Posts: 18104
Joined: 1/27/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: SuzanneKneeling

A sad truth:

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."

-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" (ca. 1911)

Suzanne, true, and some people want to see the U.S. interfere in Darfur and other places.
What did Al Gore say of the Troops who were killed in Somalia, "They died for the "U.N.?"

_____________________________

"But Your Honor, this is not a Jury of my Peers, these people are all decent, honest, law-abiding citizens!"

(in reply to SuzanneKneeling)

Post #: 32

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 12:42:23 AM

TheHeretic

Posts: 19100
Joined: 3/25/2007
From: California, USA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: CandyLover

Or the reverse--why would we know about a place we don't care about? Aside from winning at trivia games, why would the average person want to know where a lot of these places are on the map?

Sure, I know the capitals of the 50 states. Exactly why did we spend 2 weeks in school learning them, though? The rote memorization students go through in schools is for the most part, completely pointless. You're never going to use that information--if you intend on visiting a state capital or writing to a legislator, you're going to need far more information than the name of the city.

           Because while the straightforward facts are mere trivia, the development of the mental ability to memorize and associate 100 different names, some of them quite strange, is important in educating our young. Show me kid who never put 'Olympia' in the 'Washington' and chances are he never passes Chem 101 either.

        Finding Outer Mongolia on the globe might seem pointless, but being able to go to an unusual sort of database and get the information you need isn't. If you can conjugate Latin verbs, you won't sound like an idiot when you tell the damn Mexican gardeners to quit smoking weed behind the rhododendron and finish pruning the roses.

      A good education is about teaching them to use their minds. At least it that's how I want to see my money spent.

_____________________________

If you lose one sense, your other senses are enhanced.
That's why people with no sense of humor have such an inflated sense of self-importance.

(in reply to CandyLover)

Post #: 33

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 12:45:57 AM

meatcleaver

Posts: 9030
Joined: 3/13/2006
Status: offline

Not knowing where countries are is just ignorant, there is no other way of putting it. People shouldn't be allowed to vote if they show so much ignorance but then, maybe ignorance is a sign of the decline in education standards. I certainly think that geographical ignorance is a symptom of someone's wider lack of education and poverty of knowledge.

I once met an Californian who thought Chicago was in Canada. I thought how American until I met a Brit who thought Holland lay between France and Spain and realized Britain has a problem too. Now nothing surprises me.

_____________________________

There are fascists who consider themselves humanitarians, like cannibals on a health kick, eating only vegetarians.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 34

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 12:52:35 AM

NorthernGent

Posts: 8730
Joined: 7/10/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Mind you, most Brits seem to think that the US lies a mile off the coast, Canada, Australia and New Zealand a bit further off and Europe they'd place somewhere out near Japan. Its all down to media and culture I feel, with a hefty dose of ignorance.

E

'Morning Ellen, true to form, I see. There's some truth in the above, and a hefty dose of drama.

I work with people who couldn't care less about what is going on outside of their town/village/city; then again, I work with people who spend a lot of time in places such as China and India, and have a sound knowledge of world geography. It's common sense that this is going to be the case: some people are curious about the world, others aren't interested and have other things on their mind. 'Just a matter for personal taste.

If it's all down to the media in this country, then you can watch BBC2, and watch a lot of documentaries on places such as India, Iran, China, Tibet (pretty much anywhere), and take some measure of understanding of the food, culture, religion, customs etc.

_____________________________

I have the courage to be a coward - but not beyond my limits.

Sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

(in reply to LadyEllen)

Post #: 35

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 1:32:10 AM

chellekitty

Posts: 3923
Joined: 3/27/2005
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: FullCircle

Sri Lanka should be from this point known as Tiger Tiger

ummm are you trying to be offensive to the native people of Sri Lanka? the Lion People...the Sinhalese people...my ethnic group...who have been terrorized by the Tamil Tigers for a good long while...and terrorized them in return...no we have not been innocent...so umm i think we'll stick with Sri Lanka....

yea...bad humor on that one...

edited to add: please don't send Paris Hilton to Texas, we have enough dumb ho's here....already filled our quota for dumb ho's..thanks...

< Message edited by chellekitty -- 10/6/2007 1:36:52 AM >

_____________________________

One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. ~Albert Schweitzer

(in reply to FullCircle)

Post #: 36

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 2:35:11 AM

Guilty1974

Posts: 467
Joined: 11/2/2005
From: Den Haag
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Not one, out of five got even stage 1 correct. One of them, who drove with their family to France for holidays every year, and had done for 20 odd years, thought that Spain was France - although the ferry of course goes to France. The less said about the results for the other stages, the better.

Well, being European and never having been to the US, I wouldn't be able to fill in all 50 states and captials of the US on a map (though for many major US cities I have a general idea of where they are and what state they're in). And I'm university educated and pretty bright, so I don't think this is a typical American problem :-)

(in reply to LadyEllen)

Post #: 37

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 2:45:34 AM

CandyLover

Posts: 68
Joined: 6/5/2007
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

          Because while the straightforward facts are mere trivia, the development of the mental ability to memorize and associate 100 different names, some of them quite strange, is important in educating our young. Show me kid who never put 'Olympia' in the 'Washington' and chances are he never passes Chem 101 either.

       Finding Outer Mongolia on the globe might seem pointless, but being able to go to an unusual sort of database and get the information you need isn't. If you can conjugate Latin verbs, you won't sound like an idiot when you tell the damn Mexican gardeners to quit smoking weed behind the rhododendron and finish pruning the roses.

     A good education is about teaching them to use their minds. At least it that's how I want to see my money spent.

Interestingly enough, you mention the number 100, Latin, and chemistry. I see you live in California too. Guess what's in our state's curriculum the same year as State Capitals? Periodic table. Roughly 100 elements--have them memorize that instead and they'll get their Latin dose of the day too. Far more useful for passing Chem 101 than Olympia, Washington.

Students never had much of a problem memorizing the state capitals while I was in school. Students were given one chance to retake the test if they didn't get 100% on the first try, and not a single student in my class missed any the second time around. From what I can see, they don't have much of a problem now, either. Their biggest weakness always seems to be word problems. Real-life problems are typically word problems. There has been, and will be for quite a while, a big mess about curriculum reform and result-oriented problems. California's curriculum throws word problems in as an afterthought--take a look at the California Content Standards for the grade of your choice if you don't believe me. It's not an education issue, it's a "meet this or get a bad review" issue.

As for conjugating Latin verbs, you'd still sound pretty bad at it considering the first shot many students get at learning Spanish is in the 9th grade. Far too late for fluency for most people, unless they've already had experience with another language before that. Maybe we could dump a few of those history classes to teach students how to manage multiple languages earlier on?

I agree, a good education is about teaching them to use their minds. I don't want my money spent turning children into parrots. Even if I got paid turning them into parrots myself for a few years. Once you have their money, you never give it back!

(in reply to TheHeretic)

Post #: 38

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 4:22:09 AM

LadyEllen

Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Mind you, most Brits seem to think that the US lies a mile off the coast, Canada, Australia and New Zealand a bit further off and Europe they'd place somewhere out near Japan. Its all down to media and culture I feel, with a hefty dose of ignorance.

E

'Morning Ellen, true to form, I see. There's some truth in the above, and a hefty dose of drama.

I work with people who couldn't care less about what is going on outside of their town/village/city; then again, I work with people who spend a lot of time in places such as China and India, and have a sound knowledge of world geography. It's common sense that this is going to be the case: some people are curious about the world, others aren't interested and have other things on their mind. 'Just a matter for personal taste.

If it's all down to the media in this country, then you can watch BBC2, and watch a lot of documentaries on places such as India, Iran, China, Tibet (pretty much anywhere), and take some measure of understanding of the food, culture, religion, customs etc.

Mornin' NG, true to form as usual I see, you get the wrong end of the stick!

I see it as more an issue of the news reporting we get and the cultural input from other anglophone countries. Yes, people may watch documentaries but that doesnt require them to know anything about where the places are - though I'd venture that its only those who know where the places are who'd be sufficiently intelligent to be interested in the first place. The rest will be soaking up hours of soaps no doubt, without a clue where Manchester is, even though theyre up to date on Corrers.

E

_____________________________

In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.

(in reply to NorthernGent)

Post #: 39

RE: Americans ignorant to geography - 10/6/2007 4:27:17 AM

Politesub53

Posts: 14862
Joined: 5/7/2007
Status: offline

Sheesh Lady E, everyone knows Manchester is just north of Watford. Mind you, last weekend i couldn`t find my front door, although i blame that on the Guinness.

I would have a guess America isnt much worse than anyplace else, for its citizens not having a good idea of where other countries are.

(in reply to LadyEllen)

Post #: 40

Page: << < prev 1 [2] 3 4 5 next > >>

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> RE: Americans ignorant to geography

Page: << < prev 1 [2] 3 4 5 next > >>

Jump to:

New Messages	No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages	Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages	Locked w/o New Messages

Post New Thread

Reply to Message

Post New Poll

Submit Vote

Delete My Own Post

Delete My Own Thread

Rate Posts

Collarchat.com © 2025

Terms of Service

0.125