45, USA
7 Continents - NA, SA, Eur, Asia, Aust, Africa, Ant.
4 Oceans - Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Indian
I am open to the concept of an “Antarctic Ocean”.
29, US, 7 continents, 4 oceans. Have never heard of the Sotuhern Ocean.
And I happen to know that in most Indian schools it is taught that Europe & Asia are two different continents.
Out of curiosity, what is India itself taught as? Is it called a subcontinent there as well?
And an apology to anyone I’ve asked questions of that may have been annoyed for it. This sort of thing fascinates me.
Sorry for the double post but a further question: do you not consider islands to be part of a continent? Iceland? Greenland? Japan? Philippines? The Aleutians?
I’m not challenging you; I’m just curious.
I assume this question is directed to me?
India is taught as a subcontinent literally, but the center of the world figuratively. No, that’s China. :smack:
Yeah, it’s taught as a subcontinent. Part of “Asia” while the teacher then goes on to explain the fallacies in this thinking as “Asia” is drastically different from region to region. I’m not saying every place isn’t, I’m just saying that’s what the teachers teach.
Isn’t that pretty much true of the Pacific? 
Age - 25
Location - Canada
6 continents
NA, SA, Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica
4 oceans
Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic
I was taught in school that Europe and Asia count as separate continents, but I personally now think of them as one. As mentioned earlier up-thread, Africa is much more connected to Eurasia than North and South America are connected to each other, so I think NA and SA are definitely two continents.
Re: Oceania and the problem of islands. Well, I might count New Zealand/New Guindea as part of the Australian continent, if people from there want me to. But I don’t think it’s necessary that all islands be assigned a continent. Sure Japan is close enough to Asia/Eurasia to be “part” of that continent, but what about Hawaii and the mid-Pacific islands? Greenland?
Just to be clear, are you saying that they make sure that people realize continents aren’t homogenous or that they teach that India is not like the rest of Asia, implying it’s special and unique?
What do you mean? Because it’s the most populous nation?
In case that’s how my posts are read, I’m not trying to imply all islands are part of a continent, only those that have some (admittedly arbitrary) combination of proximity and shared culture to those on the mainland.
India as a rule doesn’t fit in with most of the neighboring nations is what I mean, and what they teach. We definitely don’t fit in with the Far East mentality, i.s., China, Japan, Korea, and we don’t fit in with the Muslim countries such as Iraq & Iran. Our closest neighbor socially as well as politically is Pakistan and with all the bickering that goes on there it’s pretty tenuous but we’re still like one country. It’s only been like 50-some odd years after all, and even my roots extend to the far side of the border. We don’t really fit in with SE Asia either, like Indonesia, etc. India stands out because it’s a republic, has one foot in the First World and one in the Third World, and is predominantly Hindu.
So, it’s not so much taught that we’re special, but that this is the way the world lumps us in. We don’t really fit, but this is the way it is and will forever be.
And remember I am speaking of North India. S. India’s teaching may be entirely different, I know little to nothing of S. India.
No. Based on my SO’s family still back there they are still fairly ethnocentric in the schools and still teach that China is the center of the world, now as a nation rather than actually geographically as used to be taught. I don’t obviously have as much knowledge, but they are taught a great deal more “nation pride” (I hesitate to use the word patriotism, it’s not the right word) than many other countries.
Just teaching not to generalize or stereotype should get across that point as it’s true of any number of nations. Seems unnecessarily egocentric.
Not that American schools are exempt from similar behavior, mind.
India has a chip on its shoulder from a few different things.
In some cases, the chip is valid. In others, it’s not.