Posted on 04/30/2003 6:37:27 AM PDT by 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
"What the hell ya doin' takin' a trip up to Banff and Lake Louise? No self-respectin' Albertan goes there anymore -- yer more likely to hear some Neezer language up there than English!"
(Note: "Neezer" was a term used by said rancher to describe all things Oriental in nature -- Chinese Japanese, Taiwanese, etc.)
I had this exact thing happen to me the other day. The idiot running the cash register asked me if I was giving her a tip.
At present my school system costs $20,000 per student per year, and they do an awful job.
It's not about the pay. The teachers are incompetent, and their union is working to prevent the education of children. Respectfully, you are entitled to your opinion, but I wish you would get a little more information before you tell us what it is.
Vouchers are the only answer, and the teachers unions will do anything to prevent them, no matter how many children will suffer.
These guys owned and operated a large "coring and cutting" operation outside Calgary.
It was fun. I apologized to them for America's patronizing and dismissive attitude and they apologized for Loverboy.
When a Canadian court ruled that a former doctor serving a long sentence in the Bowden correctional facility for sexual abuse of his patients had a "right" to see his children, his ex-wife was forced to bring the young girls (both younger than 8) to the prison for a visit. The visit was postponed after a scene at the prison gate during which a band of ranchers from the Red Deer area surrounded the vehicle carrying prison officials, the ex-wife, and the two young girls into the facility. The scene ended peacefully when cooler heads prevailed -- the ex-wife pointed out that overturning the vehicle with all those people inside (including the two girls) was not a good way to deal with an idiotic court ruling.
The postponement of the visit became a permanent cancellation the following day when the imprisoned doctor (visibly bruised and battered, by eyewitness accounts) filed a motion in court asking to have his request vacated.
But thanks to public school "priorities," 99% of them can locate the "G-spots" of the human body.
You should be ashamed of yourself for a quote like this. Public school teachers are shamelessly pillaging the public with the help of their union, and a political system designed to maintain the status quo and keep them fed at the public trough, in spite of more than adequate evidence that they are incapable of providing the services that they have been hired for.
They continue to fail, year after year, and all that happens is they get more money, taken from the taxpayers at gunpoint, to waste.
They don't care how many children's lives it ruins, there will be no accountability in the public school system, and there will be no competition for the taxpayer dollar.
The union's position is that we can pry their monopoly control of education from their cold dead hands.
If you teach at a public school you should hang your head in shame.
Typical Clinton era doublespeak.
If you get brain surgery who do you want to perform it .. someone who is good at being a surgeon or someone who "really cares" about surgery?
I assume that you follow your own advice and help with your kids homework every evening, just like I do, right?
This award goes to the guy who called up during an on-air debate on the death penalty in Canada. Notorious child-killer Clifford Olson was given a "mandatory" parole hearing even though there was no chance in hell he was ever going to be released, and the radio host asked the callers if they thought the mandatory hearings for people like Olson should be eliminated because they forced the victims' families to re-appear in court every few years to re-testify about the devastation that they had gone through.
After a few people gave opinions on either side of the issue, one caller (who may have sounded an awful lot like a wise old rancher from Water Valley) suggested that not only should Olson be given his mandatory parole hearings -- he should be paroled as soon as possible.
"Why the hell do you want this guy released?" asked the incredulous radio host.
"Because I want to kill the bastard -- but I can't do it while he's in prison."
...a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter and a tenner..
waz the dillie-yo...?
I wonder if they test was multiple choice or fill in the blank? My guess is the former; if it were the latter, the % would be far lower.
Americans got an average of 23 correct answers. Mexico ranked last with an average score of 21.
And since America is slowly becoming Mexico, this does not bode well for our future.
I probed with my trademark focus "Rocks, huh?"
This award goes to the immigration officials at Calgary Airport who detained a couple of American leftist freaks who were traveling to Calgary to take part in demonstrations against the meeting of the World Petroleum Congress in 2000. Turns out these two guys had been arrested and convicted for violent conduct at a demonstration in Quebec some time ago, and part of their sentence was that they were never to set foot in Canada again.
To ensure that these characters would not be disruptive in Calgary, they were shackled to a radiator in the offices of the immigration authority for the duration of the four-day event.
Exactly. How many of these people taking to the streets to protest our invasion of Iraq could even locate Iraq on a map. What's worse is that many of them would think that knowing where it is has no bearing on the discussion. A lack of historical perspective and current knowledge of the region, and of the adjacent regions, pretty much negates anyone's claim to have something to contribute to the discussion.
I wouldn't walk into an operating room and start giving medical tips to a surgeon, but that's exactly what a lot of these polls amount to. Finding large numbers of people with baseless opinions about important issues, and trying the 'quantity is quality' approach to alter the debate.
Note to self: Notice the condescending way they stroll in here in their Armani suits and deal with these local farmers, ranchers, etc.
Note to self: That one smelly old guy over there with the faded jeans and dirt under his fingernails really looks out of place here.
Call to friend who is in the real estate loop in Calgary: "Who was that old guy at the meeting this morning?"
Response (with a chuckle): "He's a retired banker who now ranches on 20 sections of land (that's 20 square miles, folks) around Calgary. He's worth more than all of those people in that room combined, plus the clothing they were wearing, plus the companies they work for. Probably worth more than the passenger jets they flew in here on, too. I think he uses Armani suits to wash his cattle."
I'd love to see polls correlating knowledge of various kinds with political and moral views. I bet it would be very revealing.
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