# Is the average American stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375 "2010-05-14T01:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/121 "2010-05-15T16:19:16Z")
> [@arnesw](#): > > That’s what I’m asking. What do you call people not from America? What would you call citizens of the USA, if not “Americans”? Still, every once in a while, somebody gets bothered by this. Read through some of these old threads if it’s still bothering you: [Since when and why is the United States called “America”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533262) [Is “America” offensive?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=406498) [Does anyone actually object to the term “American”?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=403063) ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/122 "2010-05-15T17:33:24Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Genuinely curious here: When would the average American need to know any of this? We don’t. It’s like assuming folks who know Latin are somehow smarter just because they know it. I vote at almost every level. It’s important and it’s important to know the politician’s views on issues that are important to me and relevant to my life so I educate myself about them. Knowing the total number of voting representatives in the House of Representatives is useless information to me (Note I said me - I realize that there are people who find this information vital). I have bills to pay and mouths to feed and I know that even if I did disagree with the Constitution or the way the Government is constructed out there is virtually nothing I could do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/123 "2010-05-15T20:01:43Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:44, topic:539375”] [mod note] Personal insults are not allowed in this forum. Don’t do this again. [/mod note] [/QUOTE] Well, I didn’t really mean it as an _insult_, but as a response to the other poster’s question, > [@Blahber](#): > > Does that make me a dumbass? I interpreted his post as being somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and responded in kind (though with a legitimate point, IMO), using that poster’s own terminology, which I wouldn’t use otherwise. BTW, since almost nothing in this thread is “factual,” should it not be relocated anyway? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/124 "2010-05-16T01:10:18Z")
> [@arnesw](#): > > It is pretty hard to find out. I asked a canadian: We call people from the USA “Americans,” which is a term fully supported by my Canadian Oxford Dictionary. - RickJay, a Canadian ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/125 "2010-05-16T03:59:42Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > I have no scientific basis whatsoever for saying this, but it’s my belief that the average American knows far less of what might be called “common knowledge” than he or she did a generation or so ago. > > You can always find individual areas in which people are more or less ignorant than the person standing next to him/her. But there used to be a sort of baseline of knowledge that all but the most resolutely stupid could call forth when asked. I think that baseline has dropped precipitously in the last several decades. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If so, who is to say that that’s bad? Memorizing lists of information is about the most useless thing you can do so long as it is reasonably easy to look that information up. You can train a mentally handicapped kid to name each state and its capital and that’ll let you give the stupidest kid in your class an A if you’re a teacher, but it serves no practical purpose. Whether you can list the names of states has nothing to do with whether or not you can invent a new way of producing CPUs at half the price or some other creative revelation. > > The meaningful aspects of intelligence are: > > The ability to research > The ability to consider information critically > Introspection > Responding to criticism > Imagination > > Rote memorization is a parlor trick. First, I’m not sure that every bit of what I’ve described above as “common knowledge” comes to one by way of rote memorization. Sometimes it’s just a matter of repeated exposure. I was one of those obnoxious kids who could name all of the state capitals at age 6…not because I’d made any conscious effort to memorize them all, but because I had a United States puzzle I played with frequently whose pieces also had each state’s capital printed upon them. Is knowing all 50 states’ capitals “essential knowledge”? No, I suppose not. But I’d like to hear the argument that a person who doesn’t have this knowledge is somehow the better for it. I believe much other “common knowledge” is acquired in a similar fashion. Indeed, it can probably be shown that facts acquired by rote memorization for the purposes of passing a test are more quickly forgotten. And even if rote memorization is required at times, before I can come to your point of view, you’ll have to show me that the educational system when I came through it spent gobs of time in this pursuit that could have been better spent doing something else. I see a parallel here with “new math,” which fortunately I was just old enough to miss out on. I learned long division the old-fashioned way (I was horrified to see the torture my younger brothers had to go through to “prove” their calculations), and it served me just fine, and still does. As Tom Lehrer used to say in introducing to his wonderful song “New Math”: “…in the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you’re doing, rather than to get the right answer.” I’m not downplaying the importance of the skills you cite above…I’m just saying that you’ll have to show me how, as a whole, the acquisition of a certain baseline of general knowledge must inevitably come at the expense of these skills. We used to call people who possessed this type of knowledge in several different disciplines “well-rounded” – you know, capable of carrying their end of a conversation in which a wide variety of topics were discussed. I still think there’s value in that, as much as there is with a person who is expert only in what he or she _has_ to be. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/126 "2010-05-16T16:58:43Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > As my huband is so fond of reminding me, “Half of us are below average.”… > [@Kelby](#): > > Well, technically speaking, only one-fourth of the population is “below” average. … Right. One could say correctly, half of us are below the median. That, of course, would lose the force of common parlance and the understanding of a good many. To the OP. I don’t think Americans are any more “stupid” than anyone else. One could make a pretty good case for their being more poorly informed given their total reliance on cable news for information and analysis of what’s going on in the world. But, I agree, many of them sound pretty stupid regurgitating what they hear there. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/127 "2010-05-16T17:15:12Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > First off, this thread calls for the George Carlin line: > > “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of them are stupider than that!” > > As for stupidity, it comes in all shades, in all countries. > > [Half of young people do not recognize Winston Churchill](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278079/Half-young-people-recognise-Winston-Churchill---forgotten-80-years.html). > > My personal favorite of the week: a 42-year-old co-worker of mine with two college degrees asked out loud, “Is Greece in the Mediterranean?” > > I wanted to stab myself after that. To me that is not stupidity, that is ignorance, the stupidity enters when you have told the person the facts and that person chooses to ignore the evidence or is unable/unwilling to check the evidence. I will always wonder why the people making those surveys or polls that show the levels of ignorance out there rarely go back to the surveyed a few days later, after the proper information was given to the surveyed group. We should then get better evidence IMO regarding the actual stupid levels. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/128 "2010-05-16T17:27:07Z")
[Heh!](http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/?DateAfter=2010-05-15&DateBefore=2010-05-15&Order=&PerPage=1&x=33&y=10&Search=) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/129 "2010-05-16T19:41:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Myself, I’m so smart my brain hurts. It’ll have to come out. Here at _ **Bosda** ’s Surgery Made Cheaply_, we have a discount: Get a Lobotomy, & get a Vasectomy _FREE_! We call it our _little off each end sale._ ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/130 "2010-05-17T21:15:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The trick, of course, is to know what it is that you need to know. The University of Chicago Hospitals (where I did my last clinical rotation) recently sacked a bunch of nurses. They knew they needed to sack someone because of their budget, but in order to choose who, they set the nurses through several patient care scenarios…without a computer. Those who knew their stuff stayed, and those who couldn’t make up a care plan but had just been following the check boxes on their computers were sacked… I’m surprised they gave a test like that. The cost of writing a test that would be hard enough to weed out the less competent nurses, yet not expose the university to lawsuits on the grounds of “disparate impact”, would most likely exceed the cost of just keeping the crummy nurses on. I’m not saying such a test couldn’t be devised, just that the cost of doing so legally and proving it was legal to the university’s lawyers would be very steep. It’s hard to be both egalitarian and to value competence. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/131 "2010-05-17T21:44:23Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > I’m surprised they gave a test like that. The cost of writing a test that would be hard enough to weed out the less competent nurses, yet not expose the university to lawsuits on the grounds of “disparate impact”, would most likely exceed the cost of just keeping the crummy nurses on. I’m not saying such a test couldn’t be devised, just that the cost of doing so legally and proving it was legal to the university’s lawyers would be very steep. It’s hard to be both egalitarian and to value competence. I haven’t seen the test, but I don’t see why it would be difficult. I assume it’s about the same as tests we get in nursing school. There are a concrete number of acceptable Nursing Diagnoses as written by [NANDA](http://www.nanda.org/)which insurance companies recognize, with very specific goals and interventions, all with evidence based rationales behind them. Added to that are some policies and procedures specific to the hospital and/or the unit, all of which are likewise clearly articulated. Anyone who can’t parrot that sort of information back when asked is opening up the hospital to risk in the event of an adverse incident or lawsuit. They’re not looking for creativity here, just widely recognized, evidence based practices. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/132 "2010-05-17T22:05:13Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:114, topic:539375”] Aaaargh! TERRITORY. I meant to say TERRITORY. My son was in a geography bee about 5 years ago. I was quizzing him to prepare, and the question came up, “how many territories does Canada have?” He said three. I said, no, it’s two. We went back and forth for a few minutes until he showed me a current map. Dang! You guys snuck that one in on me. Nunavut? Really? I knew the 10 provinces, though. My dad was Canadian. I _had_ to know that one. [/QUOTE] Yeah, when they made the territory, there was a good comedy routine about “which part of Canada are you in now…?” “Nunavit!” For the outsiders, it basically separated the Yellowknife area and nearby mines with large settled white populations from the Inuit-dominated hinterland, so the Inuit could have self-government without having to use racial profiling. Sort of the world’s largest gerrymander. At the time there was talk of having a referendum on the name of the other territory; then they found that some smart-aleck was gaining traction with a campaign to name it “Bob”. How does a politician argue against that?! “Bob is a dumb name?” So they cancelled plans for a referendum, and Northwest Territories it is. The original WWTBAM had a seriously challenging skill-testing question system to qualify. They ended up with some serious geeks and gave away too much money; but basically, lawyer and teacher geeks didn’t make for interesting TV. (Except for the first winner who dial-a-friended his dad on the last question to tell him he was going to be a millionaire…) Regis had one loser on early who flubber an easy trivia question on Shaker furniture; it was obvious the guys in his frat had kept dialling using everyone’s identity until they got through and won. IIRC the current WWTBAM uses a random draw to nsure they have more “representative” Americans. OTOH, Regis was smarter than you think; the host of the one Canadian episode allegedly lobbied like crazy to be host; then flubbed a simple question, pronouncing the well-known lake in BC, Okanagan as “oh-KA-na-gan” instead of “oh-kah-NAH-gun”. That’s like calling somewhere “Porto RICK-oh”. I never saw Regis flub one like that. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/133 "2010-05-17T23:40:19Z")
How is this a question with a factual answer? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/134 "2010-05-19T15:41:11Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > You do realize that may be offensive to hammers. But I will give you credit; you nailed this one. I’d say that he was bang on. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/135 "2010-05-19T16:25:10Z")
An oldie but a goodie… I was watching Family Feud. They were in the last round trying for the big money. A woman was asked this question: Name a creepy insect… SPIDER! Me - you dumb stupid jerk! Everyone knows a spider is not a … BING! #1 ANSWER! As a really smart person I knew in college once often said - stupid people understand stupid people 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/136 "2010-05-19T16:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > An oldie but a goodie… > > I was watching Family Feud. They were in the last round trying for the big money. A woman was asked this question: > > Name a creepy insect… > > SPIDER! > > Me - you dumb stupid jerk! Everyone knows a spider is not a … > > BING! #1 ANSWER! > > As a really smart person I knew in college once often said - stupid people understand stupid people I’ve remarked on this to people in the past – I suspect _Family Feud_ stays away from questions with factual answers precisely because an incorrect answer by a large number of people will still be a “correct” answer. The thing that prompted me to make this observation was when they asked people to name a country in South America, and a significant portion answered “Rio de Janeiro”. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/137 "2010-05-19T18:04:24Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > It’ll have to come out. > > Here at _ **Bosda** ’s Surgery Made Cheaply_, we have a discount: Get a Lobotomy, & get a Vasectomy _FREE_! If it has to come out, wouldn’t that need to be an -ectomy rather than an -otomy? 😉 > [@suranyi](#): > > How is this a question with a factual answer? Good point. [moderating] Moved thread from **General Questions** to **In My Humble Opinion**. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375/138 "2010-05-20T20:19:30Z")
this is making me wish i could find that call where the people are arguing about the percentage points and the decimal… which i’ve actullay paticipated in at some point. ahh here it is. > **[Verizon doesn't know Dollars from Cents](http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-dollars-from-cents.html)** > > Click here for Audio (27 minutes - PutFile is reporting the time wrong) Here's the background: I have a Verizon unlimited data plan in the ... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-average-american-stupid/539375.md?page=6)