Wow, these people are our future?

In My Humble Opinion
121

Not just acceptable but inevitable. You can’t know everything about everything. I know you know that, and what we’re arguing about is whether one particular piece of information – namely, where Iraq is – is something everyone really should know. I don’t basically disagree that people should know more than they do, about everything. But at the same time, I can’t make them know, and I would be hard put to say, in a general way that’s true for everyone, that the consequences of not knowing X are worse than the consequences of not knowing Y.

And with that, I bow out of the thread. With the time difference between us, Sleel, this thread is starting to resemble one of those chess games played by mail.

122

I’m another person who can’t get worked up about the statistics in the OP.

I’ve heard it repeated in this thread that ignorance of geography is an indicator of ignorance of current events. There’s probably some correlation, but I don’t consider it enough to justify using one as a proxy for the other.

I, personally, suck at geography. Ask me to find Iraq on a map and I’ll be able to show you the general vicinity. But the odds of me putting my finger on it on my first try are not going to be high. This, even though up until recently, I had a map of the whole region taped to the wall in my office and looked at it everytime I went to use my computer. For some reason my brain simply doesn’t remember geographical locations very well.

And yet, if you were to name a country, I’d probably be able to tell you its capital with hardly a flinch. Even tiny, obscure countries that rarely are in the news. My brain stores that kind of information quite easily and I can retrieve it quickly. Its just the way my brain is hard-wired.

Now why is any of this relevant? Well, if anyone were to assume that, with my above-average knowledge of world capitals, I’m extra knowedgeable in world affairs, well they’d be wrong. I try to stay on top of my current events and history like any good Doper should, but let’s just say I’m not going to be winning any contests in either department.

Some people are worse with geography than others, just as some people suck at spelling, or grammar, or spatial skills. That doesn’t mean any assumptions should be made about their intelligence, know-how, or natural inquisitiveness.

When you get down to it, knowing exactly where countries sit on a map is not a prerequsite for understanding the whats, whys, whens, and hows associated with those countries. And out of all those pieces of information, “where” is probably the more trivial if we’re talking about exactness only. For all we know, most of the kids in the OP’s study probably knew Iraq was somewhere in the mideast and just were off by a country to the left or right. Sorry, but that doesn’t frighten me much.

123

IF there was a draft those running it wouldn’t care less if the draftees didn’t know where they would be sent. Matter of fact, ignorance might even be preferable. Of course, there isn’t a draft.