Many Americans cannot identify a single country from a world map? (university, school)

[BigCityDreamer]

To be fair, most countries in the world are thousands of miles distant from anywhere in the United States.

So, there is a relevance factor at work here.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by The Pointer

That’s your excuse for being stupid. Interesting argument.

You can't disparage people for not knowing things which will probably never be of any use to them.

I can't name the capital of Kazakhstan off the top of my head either.

[Bettafish]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

You can't disparage people for not knowing things which will probably never be of any use to them.

I can't name the capital of Kazakhstan off the top of my head either.

Yes, but sometimes you need to know something first, in order to put it in use.

Those who can't find Canada, Mexico, Russia, China...on a map certainly have a poor understanding of the world, and that may have an impact on the society.

[theatergypsy]

Maybe nobody bothers to learn where these places are on the map because they can find out whatever they need to know on their smartphones.

Old people (I'm one) didn't have anything but a map and a globe.
\

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

I can't name the capital of Kazakhstan off the top of my head either.

Astana. They sponsor a UCI team in the Tour de France

[Rocko20]

I’m not shocked or surprised.

You can cherry pick any video today, and most Americans won’t bother ever stepping one foot overseas.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by Avondalist

I can handle Africa but forget the Pacific island countries.

All 54 countries? That's pretty good! I can go around the coast.
Central and South America are easy - I can name them all. I never got much into the Far East, though.



Sure would love to go to Mongolia.
(During the summer)


The least visited country in the world is Tuvalu (TOO-va-loo).


Here's a good video done by a guy who travels to strange places. He found out Tuvalu is a paradise!


Education, done properly, continues forever. I still look up words in the dictionary, and am currently reading a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt. I graduated from high school in 1963.

[NORTY FLATZ]

The more attractive a person is, the less they know about geography or politics.

Go ahead test this.

Ask any young attractive person, "Who is the Vice President, right NOW?"

You're going to get some blank stares..


Sad, but true.

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

Yes, but sometimes you need to know something first, in order to put it in use.

Those who can't find Canada, Mexico, Russia, China...on a map certainly have a poor understanding of the world, and that may have an impact on the society.

Aside from the fact that we don't know how many people they had to sort through, I also think that if you said "Please point to Canada" as opposed to an open ended task they would do better. Canada, Mexico, the UK, South Africa, should be readily identifiable.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by JONOV

Aside from the fact that we don't know how many people they had to sort through, I also think that if you said "Please point to Canada" as opposed to an open ended task they would do better. Canada, Mexico, the UK, South Africa, should be readily identifiable.

Except she did actually point to some of those countries and asked them to name them. Same, same IMO.

What is shocking to me, is that they couldn't even point out their own country. I simply don't understand how someone can go through life without knowing such a basic fact.