Is there a particular reason they need to know?
My certified genius-IQ ex-roommate thought New England was a state until she was 30, when I walked her through the geography of our country. It isn’t always stupidity, sometimes it’s just lack of knowledge.
Not that I don’t think knowing as much as you can about the world is ever a bad thing, but as others have said, does it really matter to most Americans exactly where Iraq is? I’d be sad for them if they didn’t know what was going on over there, but the actual physical location doesn’t seem too important in the big picture.
Well, I’m tempted to suggest that unless you’re capable of identifying every country on a globe then perhaps you ought not to be critical of other’s lack of geographical knowledge? But I’ll refrain 
Obviously the Middle-East and it’s population are of rather strategic value to us, at the moment… However,
During Vietnam, how many average kids could pick out where Vietnam was on a map?
As it has been mentioned… Geography, while valuable, isn’t necessary knowledge for a lot of people…
On the otherhand, at least half of that 2/3’s will end up voting at one point or another…
Oh!
To clarify, lest someone think I was being snippy… that was a general “you.” I certainly can’t name the geographical location of all 192 or so countries in the world.
So, it wasn’t aimed at the OP.
Excuse my ignorance , but what is APO? And why does Hawaii not have one? I tried to look this up for 15 minutes and could not find an answer that makes sense in the context of your story. APO stands for Army Post Office? If so why does Hawaii not have one.
Maybe she’s just focused on practicalities:
An APO is, as you said, an acronym for Army Post Office. Hawaii wouldn’t have an APO because it is part of the United States. An APO address is for people who are stationed overseas. Hawaii is not considered overseas.
Thanks. I presume you mean abroad rather than overseas.
Actually, since military terminology developed in the period of the first 48 contiguous continental states, “overseas” is the term frequently employed in the military to mean abroad, the journeys to Hawaii and Alaska notwithstanding.
Although Hawaii is indeed only reached by going over sea, it’s not considered overseas relative to the “mainland” USA (see this page’s note in red under the Shipping Charges chart). One advantage of military postal designations is that if I write a letter from my home to an APO (or FPO, which stands for Fleet Post Office), I pay only the standard within-the-USA rate for an envelope of that particular weight even though the note is headed for Europe, Japan, or wherever. Similarly, if I’m sending a bunch of one-ounce letters through the United States Postal Service, I pay the same amount for the ones headed to Guam or American Samoa as I do for the ones destined for Indianapolis or New York. Here’s a useful link.
I can’t repair my car, identify Angola on a map, or paint a room without getting paint on the floor. I CAN build a computer from components, create small stained glass objects and understand the workings of a distillation column.
I’m also pretty sure that all of the above accomplishments (or lack there of) really mean very little, when taken alone.
That’s easy: it’s the first town in Indiana when coming from central Michigan (I-69) or from Ohio (Turnpike).
[Ambrose Bierce] War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography. [/Ambrose Bierce] It seems Bierce was, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, an optimist.
Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve met loads of people that not only are clueless about geography but also about history and current events. Some people just aren’t interested*, others are just plain thick.
The most recent I’ve got is:
- How long is the drive from Dublin to London?
- Eh, Ireland’s an island. You can get a drive on ferry though.
- Oh, is it? OK then, how to drive from Dublin to Glasgow then?
I kid you not.
I’ve also know Irish people who wouldn’t have stand a chance finding Iraq on a map. I’d actually be surprised if they even got the right continent.
*They can learn all kinds of bollocks about sport and the like but they’re only interested in them and couldn’t give a fuck about the rest.
Firstly, one of these polls seems to come out every year ors so, and after the third time, the news is never a surprise: large numbers of Americans do not know some fairly basic geography or physics. Big effin’ deal.
OTOH, there have been some responses in this thread that clearly show the rampant, and frankly bizarre, anti-intellectualism that seems to exist in this country. While I believe I have said and done enough stupid things in my life to tell the difference between ignorance and stupidity, I don’t think willful ignorance is any less sad than stupidity, and I certainly don’t think that looking for additional knowledge is something to be frowned on if one doesn’t happen to have it as a work requirement. Hey, if you have a complete lack of interest in the physical world anywhere outside your immediate location, no problem, but you really shouldn’t mind if I happen to take more of an interest than you.
Can’t find Iraq on a map? Well, no problem if you don’t happen to be going there. But if one can’t find Iraq on a map, chances are you know sweet feck all about the sort of people who might live there, or what issues lay at the bottom of our relations with those people. One’s votes might then elect persons to office who likewise know very little about the area or the people who live there. And thereby an unfortunate foreign policy may be forged. I’m just sayin’.
Sorry, just ranting a bit.
Heh. if6was9 just called me with almost these exact words. He stopped at McDonalds to grab a couple cheeseburgers and a soda on the way to work. The total came to $3.39. He gave the girl behind the counter $3.50. She pushed a button on the register, made a confused face, and called over to her coworker: “Liiiiiiisaaaa!! Can you come help me? I pushed the wrong button and I can’t count change backward.”
It would be funny if it wasn’t so horrifying.
But to not know how to find New York? Or Ohio? Or Louisiana?
Seriously, is this stuff not taught in school?
As has already been pointed out, this is slow news day information. This type of thing has been rediscovered every slow news day for the past century or so. Somehow, the US manages to survive it.
People are taught some geography in school, but if they don’t have to use the information, they (much like Sherlock Holmes in the quote above), don’t bother remembering it. Everyone on this board does this. So what?
I remember when I was in the first grade (1970), we learned to identify all of the continents, oceans, and countries using flash cards. I couldn’t do it now. First of all, a lot of countries have changed borders as well as names since then. Second, I also have no need to know where every country in the world is located. Personally, I find it hard to believe that someone wouldn’t pick up the location of Iraq through osmosis, given the frequency it’s shown and or discussed on the news.
One other tidbit…
As was stated earlier, it’s not just the young people. Some years back, one of my son’s elementary teachers (I can’t remember which grade) taught the whole class that President Johnson made the world’s longest long distance phone call when he talked to the astronauts on the moon.
I had him tell his teacher that she was wrong. It was President Nixon. We didn’t get to the moon until July’69. Johnson left office in Jan. '69. (“Tell her Daddy knows, cause Daddy saw it happen, son.”) She never corrected her mistake. When the kids were given that as a test question, my son was the only one who answered it correctly. But she gave every kid that said Johnson credit for being correct too.
How can we expect them to know anything?
When I was at school (a long time ago), we learnt by heart:
- the alphabet
- 12 times table (because of pounds, shillings and pence)
- the Monarchs of England in order
- some French nursery rhymes
- the Counties of England
I still use the alphabet, but we have decimalised the currency. So much for knowing that 11x12=132. And 6 shillings and 8 pence is a third of a pound. :rolleyes:
I understand Victorian History much better from the works of George McDonald Fraser than from the rote learning of School.
I still have no idea why we chanted ‘sur le pont d’avignon’ until we had memorised it.
After a local government reorganisation, the Counties have changed.
What this shows is that very little information needs to be memorised. It is instead vital to know how to look things up, and how to check your cites.
I know Iraq is in the Middle East and I know you use an Atlas for its location.
If someone stops me in the street and asks me to point to Iraq on a map, I know (as Smeghead pointed out) that they are having a slow news day.
Without looking it up, when was Einstein born? When did he die?
You don’t know?!
Does that make you ‘stupid’ - or is expecting you to know such trivia by heart stupid?