# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/41 "2004-10-04T19:22:13Z")
20/20, although I did sweat a little on the Sweden question. Appalled that 11% of the U.S. test takers couldn’t locate THEIR OWN COUNTRY on that survey… Is it to late to move to Canada?! ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/42 "2004-10-04T19:24:17Z")
Actually, the 2% of Japanese who couldn’t locate THEIR country, which is a huge bunch of islands, worried me more. Canadians don’t know much more than us, I believe. Besides, they must be getting tired of having every malcontent in the States vow to move there every time something lousy happens. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/43 "2004-10-04T19:24:25Z")
I got 20/20, with only a couple I was a little usure of. I thought it was interesting that a considerably higher number of Swedes (for instance) than Americans can find the U.S. on a map. The alternate choices were Canada, China and (I think) Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/44 "2004-10-04T19:25:28Z")
> [@Selkie](#): > > 20/20, although I did sweat a little on the Sweden question. > > Appalled that 11% of the U.S. test takers couldn’t locate THEIR OWN COUNTRY on that survey… Is it to late to move to Canada?! :smack: Canadians, I promise I can distinguish among to/too/two. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/45 "2004-10-04T19:35:40Z")
\ \ Anyway, I know we’ve rehashed this survey before, and remember it’s two years old. More kids should have known where Afghanistan was, granted, after 9/11, but two years later we’ve seen the Gulf states nightly on the news and all so I bet people would do better now. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/46 "2004-10-04T19:44:44Z")
Just think of the nemonic “NSF” (Non-Sufficient Funds) for [Norway, Sweeden and Finland,](http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/political/Scandinavia.htm) from left to right (West to East). And that helped me achieve 20/20 easily. My 16 year old has taken an interest in History and Geography by playing computer war games. Not as proficiently as an actual Geography class, but this is probably a means to end. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/47 "2004-10-04T21:35:23Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > 20/20. > > I thought it was pretty easy, but then I probably couldn’t name the state capitals of the USA…but hey, how many Americans could name the counties of Ireland? I’m an American who can name all fifty USA state capitals. As for Irish counties, though … hmmm … Clare, Cork, Down, Mayo, Galway. (Googles for [full list](http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/irl/counties.html)) Okay, I’ve heard of a lot more, and didn’t know Dublin was a county name even though I’ve most assuredly heard of the city. I did remember there were four provinces, and that three of them (Leinster, Munster, Ulster) ended with the same four letters. I blanked on Connaught, though. 20/20 on the _National Geographic_ quiz, BTW. ---
**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, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/48 "2004-10-04T22:00:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > And, frankly, most geography is just interesting trivia. Knowing the location of India is nice, but that’s hardly knowledge needed to be successful Two points: Firstly, yes, you can say that this is just trivia. Why do you need to retain facts that can just be referenced? But I’d like to think that a few of us agree that knowledge, any knowledge, is worth having - and the location of India, 2nd biggest population in the world, is hardly a trivial fact. The line under the banner at the top of my screen doesn’t say “Being apathetic about ignorance since 1973”. Secondly, this is not just about random geographical “facts”. It’s about education in general. One of the questions was about Kashmir. Is not the fact that two countries, _ones that actually have WMDs_, are at the point of war, something that the educated public should be aware of? This is not an anti-American rant. I’m pretty appaled by all the results in this survey, no matter it’s faults/age. The Mexicans were the worst, and if a Mexican Doper came on line and said that they’re results “didn’t matter” or that basic geography was “unimportant” I’d be annoyed with them as well. Cheers, **Ithaka** ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/49 "2004-10-04T22:05:44Z")
I got 19/20. I messed up the first question - the one about the population of the United States. Thing is, I had it right, then changed it because I used to always go too low on things like this, so I went up one. The rest were fine - I got them right with no guessing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/50 "2004-10-04T22:20:36Z")
Here’s why the religion question is iffy. I find it difficult to believe, that when accounting for countries that are a) mostly not Christian and b) way more densely populated than the U.S., that Christianity is still the largest religion. You mean to tell me, that with all those Hindus and Buddhists in India, all those Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in China, Japan and SE Asia, all those Muslims in the Middle East and Africa… And Christianity still has more followers than any other religion in the world? Yeah, I get that Australia, South America and most of Europe are mostly Christian continents. But to look at overpopulation problems in non-Christian third-world countries… you’d think that Christianity might be second or third. But that was just me. CITE?! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/51 "2004-10-04T22:26:44Z")
> [@dogzilla](#): > > CITE?! [Here you go](http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/52 "2004-10-04T22:29:40Z")
Sorry, [this](http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm) is a more credible cite (as I don’t know anything about the first one), or [if you want to do the math yourself](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2122.html)… ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/53 "2004-10-05T01:07:51Z")
Wow, this thread exploded, with geography and politics thrown in for good measure! I could have gone through the rest of the year/decade/my life without hearing the Middle East and Africa called “shitholes” but otherwise, interesting thread. Thank you all. Congratulations to your 20/20’ers. > [@Dogzilla](#): > > Here’s why the religion question is iffy. > > I find it difficult to believe, that when accounting for countries that are a) mostly not Christian and b) way more densely populated than the U.S., that Christianity is still the largest religion. > > You mean to tell me, that with all those Hindus and Buddhists in India, all those Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in China, Japan and SE Asia, all those Muslims in the Middle East and Africa… And Christianity still has more followers than any other religion in the world? Yeah, I get that Australia, South America and most of Europe are mostly Christian continents. But to look at overpopulation problems in non-Christian third-world countries… you’d think that Christianity might be second or third. But that was just me. > > CITE?! Yeah, that was it for me too. I thought with India having over a billion people, that Buddhism would be the #1 religion. I was shocked that Christianity was. You learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/54 "2004-10-05T02:18:14Z")
I got 20/20 as well. The question that I was surprised that they even asked was about was the most westernmost city, and the fact that none of the countries scored in the 90th percentile on it. Apparently one of the reasons why so many people get lost driving is not only a problem of knowing left from right, but also east from west. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/55 "2004-10-05T03:10:22Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I thought with India having over a billion people, that Buddhism would be the #1 religion. I believe we’ve spotted your problem! (Hint - look up “Hinduism” 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/56 "2004-10-05T03:14:53Z")
I’m saddened that my country (which has no problems in being involved in the affairs of other countries) consists of citizens who have little knowledge of the world in which we are so actively involved. Not knowing where a country is is a strong indicator of ignorance of other facts about that nation (IMHO) 20/20 ---
**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 5, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/57 "2004-10-05T03:28:29Z")
Ah, but that does not make the religion question “iffy” as an item in the geography test. It just means y’all got the wrong answer, fair and square, by applying your best process of elimination and level of (however fragmentary) knowledge of the facts, plus assumptions you thought reasonable, to make a guess – which is the test’s point, that we don’t get the right facts! ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/58 "2004-10-05T03:32:07Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Here’s why the religion question is iffy. > > I find it difficult to believe, that when accounting for countries that are a) mostly not Christian and b) way more densely populated than the U.S., that Christianity is still the largest religion. > > You mean to tell me, that with all those Hindus and Buddhists in India, all those Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in China, Japan and SE Asia, all those Muslims in the Middle East and Africa… And Christianity still has more followers than any other religion in the world? Yeah, I get that Australia, South America and most of Europe are mostly Christian continents. But to look at overpopulation problems in non-Christian third-world countries… you’d think that Christianity might be second or third. But that was just me. > > CITE?! I don’t think they’re going by people who actually attend services. I think they’re going by people born in historically christian countries. For example, most people in France and Scandanavia do not believe in God at all, from what I’ve read. But they still figure as “culturally” Christian nations. ---
**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 5, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/59 "2004-10-05T03:44:41Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > I believe we’ve spotted your problem! (Hint - look up “Hinduism” 😉 ). Heh, heh. Right you are. Buddhism is only a small (in relative terms) minority in India. It’s also minoritarian in Japan and China. But to many westerners there is the perception that it’s the “default” East Asian religion and thus must have billions of adherents. OTOH, the number of Hindus outside India is relatively tiny, so they almost have to be under the billion. And we forget that there are very populous Christian societies such as Mexico and Brazil _and widespread Christian communities around the world_. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456/60 "2004-10-05T03:54:33Z")
> [@pyrrthon1](#): > > I don’t think they’re going by people who actually attend services. I think they’re going by people born in historically christian countries. For example, most people in France and Scandanavia do not believe in God at all, from what I’ve read. But they still figure as “culturally” Christian nations. Need to backpedal here. I went back over the test and it does specify “followers.” Nevertheless, I think they had the above in mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-us-adults-lagging-in-geography-skills/267456.md?page=4)