Miguel says:
PS. It turns out the above claim about American’s geographic ignorance isn't true. Here’s a 2006 National Geographic report.
I must admit that I read only the executive summary of this report, but it seems to me that, contrary to your assertion, it only confirms young American’s geographic ignorance.
Here are some quotes: "On this survey, most young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 demonstrate a limited understanding of the world beyond their country's borders". "Six in ten (63%) cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East, despite near-constant news coverage since the U.S. invasion of March 2003". "Also striking is young Americans' ignorance of how the United States fits into the wider world. Majorities overestimate the total size of the U.S. population and fail to understand how much larger the population of China is. Three-quarters (74%) believe English is the most commonly spoken native language in the world".
The only positive thing they can say is "respondents have a fairly good understanding of how to use a map for simple navigation tasks, and many can say on which continents different countries and significant natural landmarks are found." That looks like pretty rudimentary skills to me.
Posted by
Jorge
September 20, 2007 9:35 PM
Wow, at 6.30 am, my result is 76.6%. Not bad for a non-American, right? Right? I hope...
Posted by
Nenad
September 21, 2007 12:53 AM
Jorge:
I meant specifically the claim that 20% of Americans can't locate the US on a map (turns out it's only 5% or so). But otherwise, yes, Americans seem not to know much about the world.
Nenad:
Not bad at all. I missed four questions, but three were rather tricky (I think). The one I missed that I wasn't sure about was the Roe v. Wade question. I thought I remembered that abortion was already legal in most states by then (one of the options), which would make striking down most restrictions (the correct answer) unnecessary.
I missed two for just over 96%. I thought the test was fairly difficult though. Most of those tests tend to be easier.
Thanks for the flashbacks to my freshman US Government and History classes, Miguel.. yes sadly most of my peers would have bombed this test.
88% although my score would have been lower if I had given the unavailable and politically incorrect answers to these:
The Constitution of the United States established what form of government? Constitutional Oligarchy
The Monroe Doctrine:
Established as Imperial policy the bloody and cruel domination of Usamerica over the latin, african and indigenous America's, which is thankfully being reversed in the early 21st century (-:
According to just-war theory, a just war requires which of the following?
Support from the economic elites and the media, along with a catalyzing event to be blamed on the other side.
What kind of government is a junta?
Military, but I think its funny that the Media Luna have made the mistake of using this term, when the Usamerican audience is one which they dearly need to convince of their democratic authenticity.
Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:
Actually, they don't, that is just some bullshit taught by the Friedman Bros. (Thomas or Milton oj oj oj)
Which of the following is the best measure of production or output of an economy?
Per Capita GDP minus Environmental Damage, Social and Political Disenfranchisement and other externalities.
Posted by
sucker
September 24, 2007 1:36 AM
