# Young US adults lagging in geography skills **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456 "2004-10-04T13:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/21 "2004-10-04T16:03:44Z")
I blame the Swedes. All those blonde countries look alike. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/22 "2004-10-04T16:14:02Z")
The religion question messed me up. I got everything else right, though indeed I only found Sweden and Argentina because only one of the multiple-choice answers could possible be right. I _do_ know approximately where things go. Having said that, middle-school social studies didn’t teach us where things go… except for one big test we all had to pass, by filling in the names of about 100 countries on a world map. I passed the first time. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/23 "2004-10-04T16:31:12Z")
> [@Kymodoce](#): > > 19/20… that pesky religious question. > > I think people may be confused a little by that question due to statements of fact like this[…] Whilst with a little thought it is obvious that the sects of christianity need to be added together to get the total Well, but then the source does not split Shi’a from Sunni, nor Mahayana from Theravada. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/24 "2004-10-04T16:34:19Z")
> [@Ithaka](#): > > 20/20. > > Easily. No guesses. > > Some of the results are embarrassing, from right round the world but particularly the States. You can excuse it all you want or say it doesn’t matter but I’d be ashamed. > > And how is the religion question iffy or a trick? It’s a fact, plain and simple. ditto. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/25 "2004-10-04T16:35:53Z")
I got 20 out of 20, but I do have a degree in the subject, so it’s hardly fair. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/26 "2004-10-04T16:40:24Z")
Well, for all the hue and cry about how other countries did better, it’s interesting to note that for a several of the questions, the U.S. did far better. Is it a symbol of poor U.S. Education when only 50% of children can find Japan on a map, when only 45% of Japanese children can find Mexico on a map (Something 80% of U.S. schoolkids could)? ---
**Author:** ![Ithaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Ithaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ithaka)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/27 "2004-10-04T16:49:57Z")
> [@John Corrado](#): > > Well, for all the hue and cry about how other countries did better, it’s interesting to note that for a several of the questions, the U.S. did far better. > > Is it a symbol of poor U.S. Education when only 50% of children can find Japan on a map, when only 45% of Japanese children can find Mexico on a map (Something 80% of U.S. schoolkids could)? Well I’d say it was a sign of poor education on both sides. However, Japan is one of the world’s most important nations AND it’s an island. You’d expect a bit better. And do you not find it slightly odd (appalling/embarrassing/shameful) that 75% of Americans tested couldn’t even make a ballpark guess at their own country’s population (the rest of the world did better on that question). Out of 9 countries teasted the US was 8th, only pipped by Mexico. I don’t want to make overmuch of one survey, but surely this is a bad thing that should upset you? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/28 "2004-10-04T16:50:52Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > For me, managing isn’t enough. How can it be okay for us to settle for “just barely good enough”? Maybe I set my standards too high, but I’d like for the country to offer the finest education possible, not just the one that gets people to the point of muddling through. Yes, especially when they don’t understand the concept of “understatement for effect.” :rolleyes: Since 1950, when education started “going downhill”\* (unless you think it was back in 1918, when people couldn’t answer a similar survey), the US has created the Internet, the computer revolution, cures and palliatives for many diseases, a space program, business concepts like franchising, fiber-optic cable, the home microwave, and many other consumer devices. The US has won more Nobel Prizes than any other country during that time frame. In addition, the US educates more people than any other country and, unlike others, does not slough off the weaker students into trade schools and other nonacademic areas. Indeed, most of the “problems” with US education have this cherry picking as the root (note that US students keep up with all other countries, until the age at which those country put the weaker students in nonacademic tracks). And, frankly, most geography is just interesting trivia. Knowing the location of India is nice, but that’s hardly knowledge needed to be successful. A smart person can become knowledgeable about many other, more relevant things, and look up India on a map whenever he needs to know. Giving a test on people’s geography knowledge is no more an indication of their education than giving a test on their baseball knowledge. \*I have a fascinating essay by Harry Goldin complaining about how terrible the state of public education was and that everything was going downhill and that students didn’t learn the basics and were unprepared, etc., etc., etc. It was written in 1956. :dubious: 19/20, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/29 "2004-10-04T17:01:11Z")
20/20. I don’t see how the religion question could throw anyone; Christianity is much more widespread than Islam–so far. I’m not surpised that Americans scored so poorly–this is a nation that exalts ignorance and scorns education. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/30 "2004-10-04T17:18:32Z")
> [@Gest](#): > > Possibly, you believe knowledge of backward shitholes like the Mid-East or Africa are of little use or relevance to Americans Well, I can assure you that every spot in my home and outside my home, upto the inside of the stables, is cleaner then most places I have been elswhere on this globe, including some I have witnessed the existence off in the USA. I can also assure you that I do not feel as if I am backwards and living in a backwards society, and that I came across many backwardness in people, habits, manners, reasoning, societies … Outside my country. Which includes experiences in the USA. I can also assure you that my son and my daughter who are both under 10 years old can answer correctly the idiotic questions in this “survey” without even the need to think about it, just the same as I was able to do so when I was a child. It surely must be thanks to the backwards education in my dirty home in my backwards country. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/31 "2004-10-04T17:22:04Z")
20/20 although I will admit that I confused Sweden and Norway for a moment and would have gotten it wrong if Norway had been an option. Easy test. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/32 "2004-10-04T17:26:00Z")
Don’t you live in Europe Aldebaran? ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/33 "2004-10-04T17:30:45Z")
Aldebaran, the term _shithole_ is one many Americans use for those areas and is the way some would justify ignorance of them. I’m sorry you take umbrage at that but I’m not in the habit of using scare quotes. I’d rather you read it in context and decide if that’s the way I feel about those places. As an aside though, isn’t your home in Belgium? ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/34 "2004-10-04T17:34:52Z")
> [@TitoBenito](#): > > Don’t you live in Europe Aldebaran? I was born in the country of my father and hence was raised there and have my main residence there. My mother came from Europe and of course I have still relatives there from mother’s side. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/35 "2004-10-04T17:39:32Z")
> [@Gest](#): > > I’m sorry you take umbrage at that but I’m not in the habit of using scare quotes. I’d rather you read it in context and decide if that’s the way I feel about those places. Then I shouldn’t have put your membername in the quote. Sorry about that. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![confessorknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@confessorknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/confessorknight)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/36 "2004-10-04T18:21:42Z")
18/20 I don’t know about changes in ocean temperature and mistook Afghanistan for Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/37 "2004-10-04T18:49:39Z")
20/20. Easy test. Contrary to the opinions of some people in this thread, I do think it is important for Americans to know have a passing familiarity with the world outside our borders. How can we be a leading nation if we don’t know where the nations we’re leading even are? I am constantly shocked by the ignorance of geography displayed by my coworkers. It is a national shame that we are so ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/38 "2004-10-04T18:57:50Z")
20/20, but that’s because this test was easy. If they’d just said “point to such and such country,” I would’ve failed dismally. I don’t need national geographic to tell me that my international geography skills are terrible. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/39 "2004-10-04T19:14:24Z")
> [@Johnny Bravo](#): > > 20/20, but that’s because this test was easy. If they’d just said “point to such and such country,” I would’ve failed dismally. I don’t need national geographic to tell me that my international geography skills are terrible. Same here, I knew the general area most countries were in and manage to locate them by eliminationing the numbers that weren’t close. I did miss Sweden tho’; for some reason I didn’t realize it was on the coast like that… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/40 "2004-10-04T19:21:23Z")
20/20. 😃 Does anybody else remember the “Zits” strip from a few years ago where Jeremy biffed the answers on purpose, just to honk off his parents? I know the thought would cross **my** mind, if approached by some survey company… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456.md?page=3)