So you guessed Brazil? That question was the only one where it was understandable to get the wrong answer (as long as it was the right wrong answer).
My suspicious nature caused me to get the oil question wrong.
This is too obvious - it can’t be the Middle East. They’re trying to trip me up…
Look, it’s been a long week, OK? Cut me some slack! At least I knew Norway from Sweden, and I didn’t have to eliminate, so nyah!
Well, I got 18 out of 20, which I guess isn’t too bad considering I got through sixteen years of school and still managed to avoid taking a geography class. The questions I blew were Afghanistan and Sweden’s locations. In my defense, my wrong guesses were the closest locations to the correct ones 
The ones I found odd that people got wrong were the Pacific ocean and even more so Isreal. Doesn’t the common reference to it as a “strip” tip people off, even if you don’t know it’s near Africia?
Bah! Give me a real challenge I say! Identify Turkmenistan, with the other choices including Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, and Kyrgyzstan! Which two Union Republics of the USSR had separate seats in the United Nations? Distinguish between Tonga and Togo! Which is the capital of Latvia: Riga, Vilnius, or Kaliningrad? Correctly label Guyana, Papua New Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau! Name four countries with territorial claims in the Spratly Islands! Find Clipperton Island on a map of the world!
Then again, I was a weird kid who spent hours poring over National Geographic maps when I was growing up (when I wasn’t busy reading the World Book Encyclopedia).
I’ve travelled in the Scandanavian countries a couple of times. They are by far the brightest bunch I’ve met.
Wait a minute-- are you me?
If you are, you’ll know how much fun the particoloured little kids’ volumes of the WBE were, too… especially About Me. Good for a giggle, after you’ve learned all you need to know about aluminum.
That was Brazil? I thought Brazil was on the West Coast of South America! (Well at least I got Sweden right:smack: )
Oops-should have made it clear that I DID guess Brazil.
Yeah, Brazil’s the really big country in South America. At least it shares a border with Argentina…
MEBuckner: those are pretty tough ones. I know Kazakhstan because it’s the big one, but those other three are tough. What can I say? I learned my world geography in the mid-1980’s, when such distinctions weren’t in evidence.
Twenty out of Twenty! I too was wavering on the religion thing until I realized that if you add Mormons it works
I also would have screwed up on the Sweden question because for some reason I had the dangly countries in my brain as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden when it’s really Norway, Sweden, and FINLAND. Denmark’s across the water and Iceland is also Scandinavia but up there by itself.
Of course, I live in NYC and therefore some people could convincingly argue against my being an American at all.
Fighting Ignorance Since 1973 [sub]and getting our asses handed to us![/sub]
Enjoy,
Steven
People in certain countries have some really weird gaps in their knowledge. The Swedes, who did best overall, were the second-worst group when it came to identifying the Pacific Ocean, which is the biggest thing on a map of the world.
Even so, I think if we can ever figure out where Sweden is, the U.S. should invade them and kidnap all their geography teachers and bring them back here to teach some of us where we are.
Well, the National Geographic’s map of the Soviet Union circa 1979 or so was really cool. I knew the 15 SSR’s by heart at a shockingly tender age. (Although when “Chechnya” started coming up in the news I had to go look it up–“Lessee, it’s one of those blue numbers…ah, one of the little ones in the Caucaus–the ‘Checheno-Ingushetian A.S.S.R.’”)
Howzaboutdat? I never really left! OTOH, if I’m really in Hoboken, that might explain this odd tic I’ve developed…
I got the population and the religion question wrong. Glad to see the dickering over the latter. But I knew where everything was, and yeah, it was too easy, given the choices that were allowed.
Biggirl, congrats to your sterling child!
One of the better breakdowns of world religions by population: http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm
- Tamerlane
19/20, and I am not Swedish, but I visited Sweden for two hours once (from Denmark). It must be the water.
Count me as wrong in the religious question too. Darn! Those Budhist better start breeding faster before next year’s quiz.
*Originally posted by MEBuckner *
Pshaw! I’ll take a stab - all from memory.
Turkmenistan - former Soviet Republic, just north of Iran; capital - Ashkabad.
Uzbekistan - former Soviet republic, tucked in between Turkmenistan (to the south) and Kazakhstan (to the north); capital - Tashkent.
Kazakhstan - former Soviet Republic, south of Russia, west of China, and north of Uzbekistan; capital - Alma-Ata
Kyrgyzstan - former Soviet republic, south of Kazakhstan, east of Uzbekistan, west of China; capital - Bishkek
Don’t really know - my guess: Ukraine and Armenia.
Tonga - island nation found in the South Pacific; Togo - nation in west Africa along the Guinea coast, tucked in between Ghana and Benin.
Riga is the capital of Latvia; Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania; Kaliningrad is a city in Russia (that portion of Russia seperated from the Baltic states and Poland). Formerly known as Koenigsburg(?), hometown of Immanuel Kant.
Guyana - country is South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea; former British colony; capital - Georgetown
Papua New Guinea - Eastern half of Island of New Guinea, located north of Australia; capital - Port Moresby
Guinea-Bissau - country in Western Africa, along the Guinea Coast.
How about 6? China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei (and Taiwan)
No clue - I’d need to whip out my world atlas!!
Of course, I’d better know most of the above since I do have a Ph.D. in Geography and teach it at the college level.
I suspect that one reason why the US doesn’t fair as well as some other countries is the lack of emphasis in geography at the high school level. I’d be interested in knowing whether other countries require students to take geography courses in high school. Most US kids get a smattering at the middle school level and a bit sprinkled throughout the other courses they take in high school. A good number of students don’t take a full fledged geography course until college (if they take one at all).
Personally, I would like to see geography emphasized more at the K-12 level (which National Geographic and other organizations are working towards), but knowing where places are located is but a small part of what geographers know (and what geography actually is).
Oh, and Sweden has a very strong geographic tradition. Quite a bit of groundbreaking research in geography (at the academic level) was taking place in Sweden in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Torsten Hagerstand is the most prominent geographer from Sweden that comes to mind.
One of the most influential classes in my life? Seventh grade geography. Learned every country in the world, did a paper on the Visigoths that got me hooked on history, and got a great exposure to the wider world ( we often watched a film on the Lebanese Civil War and studied comparative religion ). All taught by a teacher ( the football coach ) I was totally indifferent to as a human being ( neither liked nor disliked him ).
My school that year sucked ass in a lot of ways, but that was definitely one of the pivot points in my life.
- Tamerlane
even, not often.
- Tamerlane
Update on my sterling child.
He is so mad at me for posting and bragging about him. He got 20/20 on the survey, but that’s only because he read this thread first and knew what to answer on the religion question (he finds NG findings on religion as hard to believe as the rest of us).
My daughter, who is not a NG finalist, got 16/20. How we ragged on the poor child because she could not read a map. Just so you know she got the westernmost question wrong because she misunderstood how to read the map.
I think she’s a pretty good indicator on how some “young Americans” got some of their erroneous answers.
She thought there was a whole lot more people in the USA than there really are. As mentionied before, she misunderstood the map. She couldn’t find Sweden. And that religion question is rigged. (Son got 20/20. But only because he read this thread first and guessed his real answer to the religion question must be wrong.)
I was bragging before, but now I’m not. My kids are 15. They are not that much removed from the average. Or so I would have thought before we took this test. Complete disclosure. I got 18/20— and some of my answers were educated guesses.
I dunno. Should I feel superior or frightened?