# Intelligence of Americans... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352 "2003-05-20T18:12:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/61 "2003-05-21T18:11:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by McDeath\_the\_Mad \* > \*\*Tribe A would probably know more of Tribe B’s customs and history (and vice versa) than Americans know about Canada’s customs and history. > > MtM \*\* Aside from personal betterment lets ask _why_ Americans would need to know anything about Canadians? What deeply held Canadian custom/history could possibly impact their political decisions, laws, customs, and arts and so on? Why is knowing about Canada important? I know we’re moving away from “American’s are dumb/ignorant” but maybe we should look at that instead. ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/62 "2003-05-21T18:50:22Z")
**Grey** have you not run into the type of ignorance I am talking about? If you haven’t, maybe it isn’t such a problem as I thought. If you have, doesn’t it bother you in the least? MtM ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/63 "2003-05-21T19:10:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shagnasty \* > \*\*I think that it is what people are talking about when they refer to “Europe”. Kind of like Australia. \*\* No, :rolleyes:, you see it’s this sort of thing that gives American’s a bad name. Everyone knows Australia is another word for beer. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/64 "2003-05-21T19:46:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by McDeath\_the\_Mad \* > \*\ ***Grey** have you not run into the type of ignorance I am talking about? If you haven’t, maybe it isn’t such a problem as I thought. > > If you have, doesn’t it bother you in the least?\*\* McDeath, do you know everything? Answer these questions without using any reference of any kind: - Who was the MVP of the 1982 World Series? - Who was the previous monarch of the Netherlands? - Who succeeded Bill Davis as Premier of Ontario? - What Frenchman designed the street layout of Washington D.C.? - Who played Mathazar in “Galaxy Quest”? If you can’t answer all five of these questions, doesn’t that, technically, make you ignorant? And since you’re ignorant of many, many things, just why are you throwing so many stones? Like a lot of Canadians, your problem really isn’t that Americans are ignorant of Canada. Japanese are ignorant about Canada. Germans are ignorant about Canada. I’d argue that virtually everyone in the world is ignorant about Canada, save maybe the Dutch. You aren’t complaining about them, though. What REALLY bothers you about the Americans is that **they don’t care about Canada, but you want them to.** You’re like a little boy in love with an older girl - “why doesn’t she pay attention to meeeeeeee?” Well, who cares? Why is it any skin off your nose what Americans think of us? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/65 "2003-05-21T19:52:22Z")
**McDeath\_the\_Mad** of course I have. I’ve also run into large numbers of Canadians that have only the most superficial understanding of the US and its customs, ideals and history. You have to understand how BIG the States is. We’re perched up here, huddled within 200-300km of the border. Technically we’re about 9.2 Million square km, but effectively we’re 2.6 Million square kms. The US is 9.1 Million and there are people everywhere within it. Inside that country there are about 280 Million people, we’ve got 30. States have cities that contain the population of whole Canadian provinces. It comes down to a question of scale. For a home example how much do you know about New Brunswick? Population 730,000 with an area of 73, 400 square kms. Now let us say use a person living/born in Ontario with population of 10,000,000 and area of 1 Million square kms. How much do they know about NB.? Better question why should they care (aside from we’re in the same damn country)? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/66 "2003-05-21T19:52:42Z")
Oh, the answers to those questions, for those who wanted to test their skill: [spoiler] - The MVP of the 1982 World Series was Darrell Porter. - The monarch before Queen Beatrix was Queen Juliana. - Frank Miller briefly succeeded Bill Davis. - Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed Washington. - Enrico Colantoni played the alien leader Mathazar.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/67 "2003-05-21T20:01:00Z")
I got 20 out of 20 on the basic geography survey. So would anyone who [played Risk as a kid. According to the survey, young Canadians did almost as badly as young Americans. I think Canadians likely are very similar to Americans in intelligence. Surveys also show Canadians vastly overestimate their knowledge of geopolitics. McDeath’s smug attitude would not seem to have much basis in fact. I’m not sure “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” and “Street Smarts” are that reliable, and am sure you could walk around Queens’ University and see a similar number of drooling morons. Not McGill, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/68 "2003-05-21T20:08:42Z")
Oh but Concordia and, well, enough said. I kid. I kid. ---
**Author:** ![alex\_arg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alex\_arg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alex_arg)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/69 "2003-05-21T20:23:51Z")
I cannot believe that Mexico rated higher than the U.S on the Afghanistan question. It’s ridicilous. Guess people 18- 24 are to busy getting wasted to watch the news. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/70 "2003-05-21T20:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*Just my opinion, but I think that American public schools are a disaster. > > I agree that it is a matter of ignorance rather than intelligence. You question does not offend me in the least. > > Now that I’ve agreed with you and been really nice, would you send me a maple leaf patch to put on my jacket when I visit France? Now if I could just disguise my passport… \*\* I’ll be happy to provide you with any amount of camouflage you need, with the understanding that you’ll have the good taste not to return to the country you are so ashamed of. I’m confident you’ll manage to pull off the rare trick of raising the average IQ of both countries simultaneously! Bon Voyage, -Rav ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/71 "2003-05-21T20:43:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alex\_arg \* > \*\*I cannot believe that Mexico rated higher than the U.S on the Afghanistan question. It’s ridicilous. \*\* That’s rather insulting to Mexicans isn’t it? Why do you assume that Americans should be smarter or more informed than their peers in Mexico? Sure we just had a war in Afghanistan, but do you think the news of that was limited to the US and the Mexicans never got the word? For all the reasons I outlined in my first post in this thread, it’s perfectly reasonable that the average Mexican would be at least as well informed about US foreign affairs as Americans are. This entire thread seems to be based on the false premise that Americans should be smarter or more informed than anyone else and then ridiculing them for not meeting this elevated standard. Fun’s fun, but a little self-consistency would help your logic. **Dr\_Paprika** : I’m still trying to overcome the geography taught by the game Risk. For years I spelled and said “Afgafistan” thanks to a typo on my game board. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/72 "2003-05-21T21:22:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > \*\*I want to go on a date with Muffin, too. > \*\* Swoon 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/73 "2003-05-21T22:10:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > **Oh, the answers to those questions, for those who wanted to test their skill:** For the serious Cards fan: what product did said player endorse after winning the MVP in 1982? (Bonus points for remembering the slogan) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/74 "2003-05-21T23:07:30Z")
Off to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/75 "2003-05-22T00:15:22Z")
The full survey ([3 MB 75 page PDF](http://www.nationalgeographic.org/geosurvey/download/RoperSurvey.pdf)) has all sorts of fun facts. They have the actual questions for instance. The “which number is this country” ones seem much harder than the website quiz. For instance, identifying 11 different countries in Asia is one question. Unfortunately they don’t give the incorrect answers that people gave, which would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/76 "2003-05-22T00:25:37Z")
One thing that online quiz proved to me is that I might need glasses. I had trouble making out some of those teeny tiny numbers. 20 out of 20 for this ignorant Merkan. The only real stumper was Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/77 "2003-05-22T02:34:46Z")
**But come on electricity? It’s not like he is in the backwoods of West Virginia or anything** Nice stereotype there. How can Canadians be so ignorant about a state in a country that is their biggest trading partner … etc. Incidentally I’m a West Virginian who knows all the Canadian provinces and territories, and I scored a 20 on that test you mentioned. So there 😛 But to answer your question, I don’t think American (raw) intelligence is any worse off than any other country – our basic IQs are probably about the same collectively as any other country’s. The reason we (and I’m using we broadly here so feel free to exclude yourself) are so shitty at basic geography is because 1. public education is in the toilet and we’re just not taught geography the way we should be and 2. our curiousity about the rest of the world is lacking. I think a lot of Americans have zero curiousity beyond what goes on outside a 20 mile radius of where they live. I’m 25 and I’m absolutely baffled by people who graduate from high school or college and NEVER LEARN ANYTHING AGAIN! They just go to work, come home, go to bed, repeat. They don’t read more than they have to, they have no interest in seeing new places or having new experiences, etc. How can people live without constantly learning something, ANYTHING? I imagine Canada, as well as the rest of the world, has people like that too. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352/78 "2003-05-22T03:32:36Z")
There’s also the little issue of most of these surveys quizzing students. In many European countries, enough people have flunked their O-levels or not gone on to gymnasium or otherwise been culled are not included. As far as I know, though, Canada has a public school system similar to the US’s, you’re in until you’re a certain age. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-of-americans/176352.md?page=3)