I’m a nurse too, and I have at least one co-worker who is rather alarmingly ignorant of some pretty basic science, and can’t be taught. On the subject of weight control, I just could not convince her that it’s impossible to put more mass on your body than you’ve consumed. Yes, a 6-ounce chocolate bar is more fattening than a 6-ounce piece of broccoli, but you’re not going to gain 8 ounces. She refused to believe it, but couldn’t explain where the extra mass would magically come from.
Ditto. Bhutto was last Prime Minister in 1996. That was 11 years ago. I don’t think I would be 100% sure, right off the top of my head, who was prime minister of Britain (Thatcher?) eleven years ago. That doesn’t mean I’m dumb or uninterested, it means that I have other stuff to think about and I know that if I need to know that information I can look it up. I have a general idea of what’s going on around the world but I don’t spend a lot of time talking about it with my coworkers. I have people in my personal life that I can have discussions like that with.
I could fill-in all 50 states on a blank map but it would take me a few minutes.
An acquaintance of ours is a nurse, and is so full of horrible health-related information that my wife and I are frightened for those she works with. 9 years ago, when my son was first diagnosed with diabetes, she made our initial day of coming to grips with it hell by telling us that we would essentially have to prepare all of our food from scratch (e.g. making our own pasta and such), and that things such as fast food would be horrible for him to have. (ETA: But plenty of fruits and juices would be fine, as long as they were all natural!) I don’t think our nutrition educator had ever encountered such grateful parents when we learned what the real implications for our family would be.
Several years later, when she was warning us all that nutrasweet would cause devastating illness and death (again, with a child with diabetes, artificial sweeteners are a regular part of your life), we at least knew enough about her to disregard her warnings right off the bat.
As to the OP, I’ve pretty much come to assume that most people do not follow anything happening in the world that isn’t on an entertainment program, and I’m pleasantly surprised when people do talk about something other than Survivor.
My husband works as a space planner at a nationally-respected hospital here on the peninsula, and is surrounded by nurses. He tells me that not a one of them near him is under 200 pounds, and they all go out regularly on smoke breaks, as well as constantly eating chips and candy at their desks. I hate to sound like I think nurses must automatically all be healthier than the rest of us, but jeez, this is pushing it. After reading this thread, now I’ll remember to ask him if they limit themselves to People magazine and celebrity gossip.
What a bunch of troglodytes…
Several years ago, one of my co-workers was teasing another fellow by suggesting he must work harder. “So who are you?” I asked. “Simon Legree?” I got back blank stares. “You know, from Uncle Tom’s Cabin? By Harriet Beecher Stowe? The abolitionist?” More blank stares. “You do know what ‘abolitionist’ means, right?” Nope. I sighed deeply. “Let’s start with something more basic. Have you heard of the Civil War?” Both of the individuals were very, very intelligent, college-educated. They admitted to not paying much attention during their history or literature classes. Sad.
One Christmas at work it was decided that we would do a white elephant gift exchange, but we would write a poem that gave some deceptive idea of what the gift might be.
I wrote one that was in the spirit of “Jabberwocky.” I’ve never felt as lost as I was in trying to explain “Jabberwocky” to a group of people who had no idea what it was.
In retrospect, I was probably like Steve Martin in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” when he tries to get the bus singing along with “Three Coins in a Fountain.”
Here’s hoping the other half was stunned silence.
I will never forget the time in 7th grade when my classmates were arguing over whether the Effiel Tower was in Paris or in France.
One of my friends, who teaches at a community college, teaches a philosophy class. One of the questions he had on a test was “Which of the following is related to normativity?” Among the choices he had put a joke answer to make it easier for his students: “Aristotle’s theory of gravity.” He almost cried when he saw how many students actually chose that as the answer.
Has anyone ever done a study on this? I seriously doubt 90% of the US adult population can do this. Me, I always get North and South Dakota backwards 
What I talk about at work, ranked by % of time:
70%: Food (50% what you are making for dinner/the weekend, 10% what you have for lunch, 5% Recipes, 5% soups)
20%: Entertainment (10% soap opera-like shows, 5% reality tv, 4% what looks good next season, 1% news)
10%: Weather
The funny thing is that almost everyone is on some sort of diet, but they always talk about food. And, yes, they do talk about soup that much.
This was a huge point of unaddressed staff tension on an eating disorders unit where I worked. Why was it unaddressed? Because the person in charge didn’t want to anger a particular charge nurse, is my guess. Way to undermine the inpatient intervention!
You all can’t identify the 50 states? Capitols, fine–I took the test in 3rd grade and promptly forgot most of them. But the states? They make up our nation. You live in at least one of them… How do you not know this? I feel like I stumbled onto a huge pocket of ignorance here, of all places!
Julie–the cave stuff is too funny. When we scattered my sister’s ashes in Paris, several people (ok, 2) asked if we were going to Paris TN or Paris IL.
The lack of intellectual curiosity in nursing bothers me, too. My old NM was ticked that people were coming in late last Presidential election day. I was appalled at her attitude, and appalled when she said she never bothered with “all that voting stuff”. :eek:
On my old unit, we were not allowed reading material at the nurse’s station. In my new unit, we are allowed it, but it tends to be The Daily Word and various publications of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’ve taken to bringing my nursing mags there; it makes a change from God and the latest bargain on QVC.
I actually only know of 3 nurses whom I can talk about current events etc–and one of them I no longer work with. Grad school is no better, sadly enough–I’ve got fellow students who aren’t interested in Iraq or immigration, but are real into discussing Bennifer or whatever.
I’m not saying I want philosophical or political discussions 24/7, but a mix of the two would be refreshing. But then, I hate small talk and schmooze.
The bad guy from Underdog?
I don’t think anyone’s saying they’re completely lost when faced with a map; it’s more like mixing up Vermont and New Hampshire, or Kansas and Nebraska.
To dig further, though: yes, yes, states are important, and they’re complicated, and most people in the US live in one. But why is it that recognizing the geographic outline if a state is the most important thing about it? Why is this outline more important than knowing whether the state leans liberal or conservative politically? Or the major industries associated with the state? Major cities? Crops? Climate zones? Traditional cuisine? Parks? Anything?
If someone closely follows the ebb and flow of the New Hampshire primaries, but mix up Vermont and New Hampshire on a map, are they more or less ignorant than the person who remembers that Vermont is the one that looks like a “V”, but cares nothing for politics?
No, that guy from the movie “The King and I”, where the king’s wives put on a play…
I’ve never attempted such a thing, but I’d be surprised if I could correctly identify 75% of them, and probably no more than 30% of the landlocked ones.
That said, my formative geographic learning was done in Britain, so I can (and have) identify at least 95% of all countries on a map.
Exactly my point. Here in the US, we tend to get short rations on geography. IMS, I had one year of it in 7th grade, half of which dealt with climates/rocks etc. Knowing the names of the states and where they are on a map is basic, basic, basic. After that comes principle cities, industries, geographical/geological features (including climate etc).
zut--If someone knows the politics of Vermont, how does that person NOT know where Vermont is etc? To me, it’s like knowing how to correctly address an envelope or knowing alphabetical order–basic information reflecting basic literacy.
People laughed at that Miss World (America?) contestant re her Africa is a country remark, but apparently this is the level of knowledge for a lot of Americans. That’s scary.
I used to feel some chagrin when Canadians would post here and complain that Americans didn’t know their provinces. Now I am waaaay past chagrin to total embarassment–if we don’t know our own states, no wonder we don’t know about the rest of the world–in every sense of the word. :eek: If someone from the UK can correctly ID the majority of the states, why are we exempt from knowing this? I am baffled.
I remember learning to do it in school, but I couldn’t do it now. I tend to get those states near the Great Lakes all confused and some of those tiny ones near NY. I’d probably get everything to the south, southwest, and west correct, because I’ve been to many of them.
But so what? It’s not like my life will depend on needing to note Michigan on a map. I’m not planning to drop bombs on any location any time soon, and if I decide to drive and/or fly there, I’ll look it up.
Yes, Americans are getting incredibly dumb. (Remember Miss South Carolina’s answer to people having trouble with maps?)
Not that this is the greatest statistical touchstone, but has anyone here ever seen Jay Leno do one of his Jaywalking segments? As he’s walking along the street, he randomly selects people to interview and to test their areas of general knowledge.
A typical example might be “Who did we fight in the American Revolution?” and the answers can be “the Nazis” or even weirder. When he first started doing those segments many years ago, a lot of viewers complained that it was fake. Those of us posting in this thread realize those Jaywalking segments are all too real. :eek:
Now that I think of it, Benazir Bhutto is going to be a guest on Jay Leno’s show tonight isn’t she? :rolleyes:
(Just kidding, it’s Letterman, right?) 
Dancing with the stars?