[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
In this particular thread about learning another language, a poster mentions that they were unaware of the existence of an Irish Language. This left me a bit gobsmacked, as I just can’t imagine how someone could not be aware that there’s an Irish language- it is, after all, the Official Language of Ireland and I would have thought that most educated people would at least be aware that there is an Irish Language spoken by people who live in Ireland.
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I think most educated people ARE aware of this fact.
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
When my fiancee and I were visiting the US earlier this year, we spoke to lots of Americans as we were in queues etc at Disneyland, and while everyone was really nice and polite and friendly, quite a few admitted they had absolutely no idea where Australia was, other than “In Southern Hemisphere”, and of the rest, most could only name Sydney as an Australian city and seemed quite surprised to discover there are actually other cities in Australia.
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lol…well, perhaps the folks at Disneyland aren’t representative. Or maybe they are. Again, I think most educated people in the US know where Australia is on a map…though it’s less of a surprise that they don’t know the names of cities in Australia (I’m guessing that their ‘surprise’ that there were other cities was mostly feigned…only a true idiot would think that an entire continent only has once city on it).
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
The point of this thread is not to make fun of, roll eyes at, or point fingers at the Geographically Challenged, though, but I am curious as to what they actually teach about geography in US schools, when you’ve got a percentage of the population (admittedly a very low percentage, but a percentage nonetheless) that is unable to place Australia on the map?
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I think there is a difference between what people ‘learn’ and what they actually absorb. In school I learned world geography (both US and world, but mainly focused on such need too know items as the names of all the states and their capitals, with a smattering of the major countries and their capitals) and Western History, mainly the condensed history of democracy in Greece moving on too the history of Europe during the middle ages up through WWI. The main focus on the history I was taught seemed too be British history for whatever reason, with a smattering of continental history and some stuff about the French Revolution.
After that history mainly focused on US history.
What is funny is that when I’ve traveled too other countries they seem fairly ignorant of the US as well. I remember telling people I lived in Washington DC (is that the capital?) and being asked how often I go too Disneyland or the beach in California. When I tell them I was born in Mexico and raised in Arizona, they sort of recognize that Mexico is a different country too the south some where…but ‘Arizona’ draws a blank. Recently when I traveled I told someone I was currently living in New Mexico and they got all confused…‘I thought you were an American??’.
While I agree that American’s are worse than most at the whole geography thingy (as well as history, both our own and that of other countries), I have seen enough out there in the wider world too know this isn’t simply an American problem. I think part of the problem with American’s is that they focus on different things as being important. History and geography (even the geography of our own country) being fairly far down the list of priorities.
-XT