Only 71% Americans can locate Pacific Ocean on a map

Forbes ^ | May 12, 2003 Issue | Paul Recer

[yankeedame]

Survey Says

A National Geographic study released [in November] found that only about one in seven Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 could find Iraq [on a map]. Although 58% knew that the Taliban and al Qaeda were based in Afghanistan, only 17% could find that country.

The survey asked 56 geographic and current events questions of young people in nine countries.

Americans got an average of 23 correct answers. Mexico ranked last with an average score of 21. Topping the scoring was Sweden, with an average of 40, followed by Germany and Italy, each with 38.

Other findings: When asked to find 10 specific states on a map of the U.S., only California and Texas could be located by a large majority. Only 51% could find New York.

On a world map, Americans could find on average only 7 of 16 countries in the quiz. Only 89% of the Americans surveyed could find their own country.

Only 71% of the surveyed Americans could locate the Pacific Ocean.

--Paul Recer, Associated Press

(And, while we're on the subject this from USA Today/Forbes)

"No idea in politics has hurt children more than the false and misleading idea that the quality of education is determined by how much we spend.

"More than 35 years after Congress passed the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act, public school spending per pupil has more than doubled--even when adjusted for inflation--from $3,331 in 1965-1966 to $8,194 in 2000-2001.

" In fact, the federal government has spent more than $321 billion on education programs since 1965. Every year, spending on K-12 education by all levels of government exceeds $400 billion.

"Yet, citizens must ask, what have we gotten for all this? Fewer than a third of fourth-graders can read proficiently.

"No, the problem isn't--and never has been--money alone. This is just the most tired of all excuses. If there is no account-ability, or schools use unproven fads for instruction, it doesn't matter how much money is thrown at a problem; it will be wasted."

--Rod Paige, Secretary of Education

[ArneFufkin]

We need to assess these 15 year old pregnancies with an unemotional vigor. No 15 year old girl should be burdened with the responsibility of raising a child, especially with no father in the family or independent means of support.

That baby is salvagable. So is mom absent the responsibilty and burden of motherhood. He/she - the baby - needs a nurturing and healthy home. Even if the adopting or foster care parents are white folk. If "black leaders" object to that, they are racist scumbags.

When these kids are liberated from their disease, they'll learn at the same pace as their peers, they'll succeed and fail and grow honestly, they'll see a future and a life so they won't get knocked up or gang bang to compensate. So, they'll have kids when they are ready and able to raise them, just like it's supposed to be.

Hmong, Somali and Mexican kids don't go to public school until their English is sufficient to learn at a commesurate rate with their classmates. MacAllister College, St. Olaf and the rest have $50 million endowments, why don't they fund intensive English instructional centers for Hmong, Somali and Latino immigrants? These bastions of left wing sublimity are so freaking earnest and smug, maybe they can do something postitive for a change. They're sitting on piles of money.

No kids stay in class if they are fundamentally lacking the tools ... language, behavior or home preparation ... to compete in a positive and enlightening way.

To the DFL and MEA ... it's about funding mechanisms, revenue triggers, program investments, status quo, status quo ... **** the kids, let's keep the union dues and election wins coming.

[dakine]

hahahaha, Your #93!, Stop! Your killing me!

[kabar]

Agree that parental responsiblity for the "education" of their children is part of the entire process, but it is not the overriding factor. Your draconian solution of taking the children out of the homes of unfit parents is impractical and unworkable.

The major breakdown has taken place in the public school system, which has failed to provide an environment conducive to learning. Unqualified and unmotivated teachers and administrators are not held accountable nor are the students who are passed along from one grade to the next. The quality of education is dismal. Political correctness has affected the curriculum and teaching methods, e.g., sanitized history, no memorization, no tracking (placing students in groups based on their academic ability, required courses,) etc. It is incredible to me educated in the 40's, 50's and 60's, how ignorant current students are about history, government, and basic science. I went to an elementary public school in a major metropolitan area (one of the PS schools with a number) where the students had to wear ties from the 4th grade onwards and the teachers could use corporal punishment on unruly students. We memorized poems, essays, and speeches and even diagramed sentences. The basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic were stressed and had to be mastered for advancement.

If the future of our democracy rests on the current quality of our students, we are in trouble as a nation. We can continue to import the brains and technical skills from overseas using H visas or enabling foreign students to stay, but the very character of our democracy will change without having a basic foundation of common knowledge and beliefs.

[mewzilla]

You think this is funny?

Didn't bother to read the rest of my posts, hmmmm?

[gcruse]

Nope, I stopped reading the thread there.
Celebrations of ignorance weren't what I
was hungering for at the time.

[cinFLA]

Only 89% of the Americans surveyed could find their own country.

They were asked to locate their OWN country. Many "correctly" picked Mexico.

[ArneFufkin]

Good points.

We're in a vulnerable position as an enconomic and social crew right now. We've pretty much drifted into the acceptance that we are no longer going to be a manufacturer in industries where we cannot compete in the marketplace without a State-enforced market-corrupting edge. So, we're not going to make socks, dress shirts, CDs, comsumer goods and any other products or services where we cannot demand premium price and its justifiable labor investment. That goes down the sink hole if we are not more educated, skilled, innovative, productive and motivated. These kids are failing Q/A in unacceptable numbers, and the NEA and their thugs need be disemboweled if they enable that scandal.

[j_tull]

While arranging disconnection of various services from the Seattle house preparatory to our recent move to Connecticut, 5 of the 6 "agents" I spoke with did not know the two letter abbreviation for Connecticut. Similarly, while filling out the birth certificate data when my daughter was born, I indicated my place of birth as Ypsilanti, MI. When the official document arrived, it read "Father's place of birth: Ypsilanti, MISSISSIPPI". God Save Us!

[NathanR]

We need to have situational awareness. Where are we, what are our resources, where our are potential threats, what can we defend against encroachment from foreign elements.

Absolutely. I know a man who has total situational awareness in a four block radius, and because of that it is safe for a white person to be there after dark. Eight blocks away in the courthouse where I worked a year ago, you had to move your car to the underground parking garage from the daytime parking area if you worked there at night because it was not safe.

That is the kind of situational awareness most people need.

[ArneFufkin]

homes of unfit parents is impractical and unworkable

The breakdown is the inability of a growing number of children to learn at a peer comparable rate. Yeah, we have to filter out the garbage the ghouls are feeding them, but kids now B.S. when it's jammed into their face, and if they are skilled and smart they'll know Mr. Bonghit is having some real aging crises.

Where that inability is a cultural home issue ... I'm draconian and proud. "You're coming with us, you deserve a real life". This is a COMMUNITY vested interest, and I'm not going to shirk that. You don't read to your child, you don't provide him/her toys and puzzles to stimulate the creative muscle, you don't challenge you child to succeed, you don't discipline your child and you just plop them in front of the TV 365X14 .... yeah, that child is going to parents who are going to do them justice.

If its a language problem, let's address that defecit. If it's a problem with public benefit access, let's address that too. These are political challenges.

The people who run the schools are the same people who are running the family-destroying campaign in the first place. Their not going to say ... "Jahna, you are in 1st grade and you can't identify a single letter or number. Mom, did we F UP royally or what with this kid? Well, let's talk to the teacher and see if we can catch him up in a hurry over the next 14 years."

Kabar, by that time it is too late. Those kids are desperately behing the eight ball and that child is golden, his/her parent is no longer relevant. They AREN'T a parent.

[texas booster]

Jason,

Can you provide a link to the test? I searched Forbes but I haven't found it so far. I want my family to take the test. Since we range in age from 7 to 45, this should be a decent test for a Midwestern family.

Of course, homeschooling our children, at least through 8th grade, means that we will blow the curve. Oh well, maybe my youngest daughter will miss a question to keep the people that Forbes tested from feeling too bad.

[JoeSchem]

The Pacific Ocean isn't on a map. It's in a hole.

[k2blader]

I'm not that great at geography.

When we studied it in school, geography seemed to consist of basically a lot of (short-term) memorization. I did well on the tests but then fairly quickly forgot most of it.

Frankly, I don't need to know a lot of geography in order to do my job, think, or otherwise function. And it's not going to kill me to consult a map when I'm not sure where someplace is.

What would *really* be interesting is how math, english, and science test results compare between nations.

[ArneFufkin]

We can multitask.

By all means, create the educational springboard that best honors your commitment to the future prosperity and happiness of your children.

But, you and I will still be paying to maintain a putrid and insidious culture and political outrage. If a young woman comes to Hennepin County and says "I'm pregnant, I don't know or can't tell you who the father is, I need some service" i.e. free pre-natal, birthing, post-natal and pediatric medical services forever more ... if we're paying for his roof, paying for his food, paying for his clothing and cribbing and toys and diapers ... that's OUR KID!

We've got to attack this blight and soon. Some culture to authenticate, a newborn and her 60 year old great great grandma. No, grampa is not a real word, nor is Dad and three uncles are currently unavailable for comment.

Getting the kids to Kindergarten with a foundation ready for go-go growth is what we OWE those doomed little babies. They're not going to get it without some vicious close order combat from the poverty pimps. Race based stuff too, though the problem is absolutely independent of skin color, and fully a function of cultural behavior and mores.

These children deserve better, and these parents don't deserve a thing.

[B Knotts]

I agree; we have to do whatever we can to stop what is going on. I just feel kinda defeatist today about the ability to take on the teachers' unions, I guess...

These days, it seems that anyone who wants to instill traditional values is labeled a bigot, and dismissed.

[dalereed]

I don't need a map, i'm looking out the window at it now.

[ArneFufkin]

Here's a helpful hint when taking the test: Leave East Pakistan, Siam, Ceylon, Dahomey, Burma, British Honduras, Formosa and Upper Volta for last. I never did find those.

[Freeper]

Dahomey?????????

Stumped me for a while then I realized it was formerly a FRENCH COLONY!

[Rome2000]

100% of the people who can't vote Democrat.

[ArneFufkin]

In an unusual bit of wordplay, Dahomey (now Benin) was the primary departure point for the ocean transport of Africans to North America for the slave trade. Bad people in that royal family. Ironic in its irony.