Americans' knowledge about the world in which they live

[DOGG]

Americans get asked some general questions in the street.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.infovideo1/liberty_questions.rm

While this doesn't represent the whole of America, it does paint a pretty bad picture.

[kleph]

my goodness, lets take a selective survey and automatically jump to the conclusion it is typical for the whole of a population and stands in stark deference to the rest of the world.

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?











didn't think so.

[Juice Biscuit]

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?


It has you there? http://img116.exs.cx/img116/934/z0tdntknw.gif

[coreageek]

my goodness, lets take a selective survey and automatically jump to the conclusion it is typical for the whole of a population and stands in stark deference to the rest of the world.

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?


In peru, they'll chop your damn hands off if you steal, and they eat snakes.

[Scumbag]

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?


Its in Peru, Near Lima, and its famous for its good coke.



Howd I go ?

[tikdoph]

my goodness, lets take a selective survey and automatically jump to the conclusion it is typical for the whole of a population and stands in stark deference to the rest of the world.

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?
There's a big difference between knowing what Bumfuck, Peru's claim to fame is and getting Austria and Australia mixed up. :rolleyes:

[dwarfthrower]

i am in piura, peru right now. can you tell me where it is and what is it's primary claim to fame without using google?
Trondheim Hammer Dance

[Merudo]

Hey kleph



While this doesn't represent the whole of America, it does paint a pretty bad picture.


this doesn't represent the whole of America


doesn't represent

[kleph]

ummm... no. but the chick in the hotel room next to mine was getting good hammering this afternoon.

[kleph]

hey, menudo...


http://forums.zgeek.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10918

[beowulf437]

I was watching a BBC produced program and it was kind of funny listening to the anouncer trying to pronounce local names from my part of the country.

But without looking it up quick answer these.

How many vertabre are in a giraffes neck?

What is your current lattitude and longitude?

Where is the country of Andorra?

What is the largest moon in the solar system?

What is the language spoken in Brazil?

What was Ulysses Grant's middle name?

Where is the language Tagolog from?

rep + to corrrect answers in 10 minutes.

[Merudo]

wow, i'll be the first to admit i only know two of those.

and even then i'm not sure about one of them (latitude and longitude)


edit: well it seems i'm wrong about the only one i thought i was sure about.

I thought the largest moon was gangymede or ganymede (sp?) orbiting jupiter

not sure about the location of sydney.

[beowulf437]

Time's Up and Kleph at least got 2 right.

As with all mammals there are 7 vertabre in a giraffes neck.

My current lattitude and longitude is 38N 90W.

Andorra is located between Spain and France.

Titan is the largest moon in the solar system.

Portugese is spoken in Brazil.

Ulysses Grant's middle name was the letter S.

Tagolog is from the Phillipines but is the third most spoken language in the US.


I was going to give Kleph rep for at least trying but I must spread it around before I give it to him again.

[Merudo]

Titan is the largest moon in the solar system.




Just checked this...


http://www.kidsastronomy.com/saturn/moons.htm
Titan is the largest moon orbiting Saturn, and
the second largest moon in the Solar System



http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000620.html
Explanation: If Ganymede orbited the Sun, it would be considered a planet. The reason is that Jupiter's moon Ganymede is not only the largest moon in the Solar System, it is larger than planets Mercury and Pluto. The robot spacecraft Galileo currently orbiting Jupiter has been able to zoom by Ganymede several times and snap many close-up pictures. Ganymede, shown above in its natural colors, sports a large oval dark region known as Galileo Regio. In general, the dark regions on Ganymede are heavily cratered, implying they are very old, while the light regions are younger and dominated by unusual grooves. The origin of the grooves is still under investigation.



Jupiter is teh winnar


I knew astronomy at school was good for something


http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ganymede.html

[DOGG]

Andorra is located between Spain and France.

WTF that place is only like 30KM squared.

[beowulf437]

Andorra also has the smallest standing army of any country with an army and the lowest annual military budget of any country with a military.

PS And a big Whoops about Titan.

[Merudo]

Where can i find information about this interesting country?

Sounds like the place to be.

[DOGG]

http://www.andorra.ad
hmmmm pyranees mountains... i'd love to take a mad car for a spin around there

[beowulf437]

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/andorra/

[Enos]

I was watching a BBC produced program and it was kind of funny listening to the anouncer trying to pronounce local names from my part of the country.

But without looking it up quick answer these.

How many vertabre are in a giraffes neck?

What is your current lattitude and longitude?

Where is the country of Andorra?

What is the largest moon in the solar system?

What is the language spoken in Brazil?

What was Ulysses Grant's middle name?

Where is the language Tagolog from?

rep + to corrrect answers in 10 minutes.


A shitload

dunno

Sounds like South America

I'll go with titan

Portugese

Stuart?

Borneo

[Sagacious]

How many vertabre are in a giraffes neck?
8

What is your current lattitude and longitude?
about 28degrees south and about 145 degrees West (brisbane)
Where is the country of Andorra?
Europe in the alps between Spain and France (Basque country)
What is the largest moon in the solar system?
Titan
What is the language spoken in Brazil?
Portugese
What was Ulysses Grant's middle name?
S stood for stonewall
Where is the language Tagolog from?
Phillipines

[Merudo]

Hint= It's not titan. (http://forums.zgeek.com/showpost.php?p=562243&postcount=17)

:)

[Sagacious]

Hint= It's not titan. (http://forums.zgeek.com/showpost.php?p=562243&postcount=17)

:)
well there you go proof I didn't cheat.

OK I'll go with my second choice of Ganymede Jupiter's moon.

[King_Crud]

I knew Andorra and Brazils language. Andorra has duty free everything if you go there and good skiing

[Tintin]

I couldn't get the video working but here is some further evidence (http://www.abc.net.au/cnnnn/features/s718692.htm).

More (http://abc.net.au/cnnnn/video/ep09_creationists.ram).

Also try and check out Jay Leno's 'Jaywalking' segment.

[beowulf437]

It is frequently said that Grant's middle name was "Simpson." It was not. His middle name was "Ulysses" and he admitted that the "S" in his name stood for nothing.

Grant officially changed his named to Ulysses S Grant from Hiram Ulysses Grant when he entered West Point.

The giraffe has seven neck vertebrae, but they are greatly elongated.

The funny thing about this is that a sparrow has more vertabre.

[Arcane1]

Americans get asked some general questions in the street.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.infovideo1/liberty_questions.rm

While this doesn't represent the whole of America, it does paint a pretty bad picture.
I don't have to look at the results to know the end here. I have kids in High School (Grade 9-12) and I see their books and the criteria by which they are graded.
- The books suck, they are sanitized to be totally unable to offend anyone, ie. Civil War issues don't even directly discuss slavery.
-Literature is Lame, most books that involve more than a couple night's of reading are too long to deal with, thus Cliff's Notes are acceptable. Again, if it might offend anyone, then it isn't allowed. ie. Go Ask Alice isn't acceptable
-Math is a JOKE, calculators are mandatory, the kids can't do any math in their heads. Give a clerk $2.04 for a $1.99 sale and without the register they can't figure out to give you a nickel back.
-Science? Bah! The labs are too "safe" and dissection is "wrong" and anything involving reproduction is "politically incorrect".

-The grading criteria is FUCKED, the teachers are afraid to grade low, cause the parents will bitch and the administration will howl at the numbers.

Yes, I do live in ann area where I can send my kids to a very good school. Very good being relative. We do our own work at home often, thus I am referred to as the English Nazi or Math Nazi quite often and have been giving the kids reading lists for quite some time.

[s3raph]

No, but on the other hand when there is an educational crisis in a country, and you then see a video that depicts an educational crisis in said country can you really be too hard on it?

I mean there are several studies that have come to the same conclusions to our little video here.

In any case though I don't think theres anyone here who doesn't think that that video was created for entertainment, rather than educational value.

[Arcane1]

and foreign language?
Spanish and French are the options. Two years (levels) are offered and I think that an AP (college credit) level may be in Spanish. No others are offered and they are not mandatory. I told them they had to take at least a year of one. (bastard Educationan Nazi Dad)

Only 1 year science is mandatory
Only 2 of English/Lit is mandatory
Music is an option
Physical Education (gym) is mandatory all 4 years
A typing class is mandatory or data entry
No computer skills are mandatory

(I may not be 100% accurate here, don't have it in front of me and the registration was in Jan. Also my cynicsm may cloud my recollection :p )

If you want the rest, I'll be happy to get their book out later. I'd be curious to see how they compare myself.

[beowulf437]

Well Kleph has kinda got me on Grant. As for americans not knowing about the world we control(?) it truly depends on who you ask.

When I first started my current job I fully expected to hear english and spanish spoken in the offices. Now I am not surprised to hear the clerks speaking russian, bosnian, turkish, chinese and indonesian. It can be kind of disconcerning at the ease at which some of these ladies switch back and forth between languages. Unfortunately many of these women are losing there jobs in June due to goverment cost cutting measures, many are close to retirement and if they are let go now then they can't collect their pensions, the goverment saves on health insurance and payroll.

[Nodbugger]

Here are the graduation requirement for my school.

http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/School/Handbook/Graduation/GradRequirements.html

This is what I took-

4 years of English
4 years of math
4 years of science (biology, chemistry, physics, engineering physics)
4 years of JROTC
1 year of piano/music tech
4.5 years of social science (Western Civ, US history, Economics , Civics, History of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Physiology)
1 year of career and technical (business, agriculture, foods, electronics)
2 years of Spanish


These are all the classes we had available -


http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/DepartmentCourses.html

[s3raph]

then why hold it up as an example of the ignorance of american's as a whole? unless, of course, it simply supports a bias you already hold about me and my country.

there is a problem with the education system in the u.s. but, that said, that same system produces some great success stories as well. the percentage of adults with college educations is at the highest level ever and the overall education level of the country is high as well.

which are points a scientific study can address but a video whose purpose is simply to laugh at other people will not. and if that video is your idea of entertainment, i think that casts a pretty dim light on your education level as well.
Hey did I ever say it was my idea of entertainment, I try to avoid that kind of stuff nowadays, it just leaves me with a sick feeling in my stomach. All I'm saying is that considering the "documentaries" that are fashionable to produce nowadays *cough* Michael "fuckwit" Moore *cough*, you're gonna see a lot of this stuff thats aimed at being entertaining rather than geniunely informing.

[s3raph]

Here are the graduation requirement for my school.

http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/School/Handbook/Graduation/GradRequirements.html

This is what I took-

4 years of English
4 years of math
4 years of science (biology, chemistry, physics, engineering physics)
4 years of JROTC
1 year of piano/music tech
4.5 years of social science (Western Civ, US history, Economics , Civics, History of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Physiology)
1 year of career and technical (business, agriculture, foods, electronics)
2 years of Spanish


These are all the classes we had available -


http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/DepartmentCourses.html
Well thats all very nice sounding, but I'll reserve my judgement until I see the reading list, curriculum, etc etc. Noone can make a judgement on an educational system just by seeing a list of subjects.

[Nodbugger]

Well thats all very nice sounding, but I'll reserve my judgement until I see the reading list, curriculum, etc etc. Noone can make a judgement on an educational system just by seeing a list of subjects.

Reading List

9th Grade -
http://lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/English/ReadingLists/FreshmanReadingList.html

10th Grade
http://lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/English/ReadingLists/SophomoreReadingList.html

11th Grade
http://lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/English/ReadingLists/JuniorReadingList.html

12th Grade
http://lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/English/ReadingLists/SeniorReadingList.html

[s3raph]

Well thankyou, but its about 4am here and I can't be bothered doing the research right now. Also, marking criteria, and the curriculum would be helpful to anyone who wants to look over it too.

[beowulf437]

The problems with american education systems is not so much the average quality but the wide variation in quality between the districts. The school district I live in is one of the highest rated in the state and has the second highest teacher salaries in the state. Two districts over is the lowest rated in the state and has the lowest teacher salaries in the state.

[s3raph]

Same as everywhere really. It does sound like you need to back off from the political correctness brink a little. I've heard about a very famous speech by Benjamin Franklin that he made at the signing of the constitution, that is quoted in every school textbook, and censored in every school textbook, because he also said that the constitution wasn't perfect, and would need revision in the next hundred years or so, due to a number of potentially dangerous loopholes. Stupid little things like that, that bring the whole educational system down as a whole.

[haiironezumi]

Here are the graduation requirement for my school.

http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/School/Handbook/Graduation/GradRequirements.html

This is what I took-

4 years of English
4 years of math
4 years of science (biology, chemistry, physics, engineering physics)
4 years of JROTC
1 year of piano/music tech
4.5 years of social science (Western Civ, US history, Economics , Civics, History of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Physiology)
1 year of career and technical (business, agriculture, foods, electronics)
2 years of Spanish


These are all the classes we had available -


http://www.lwhs.will.k12.il.us/Central/Pages/Departments/DepartmentCourses.html


They actually get away with having JROTC as a class? that's ridiculous, anything in that vein should be an extra-curricular activity at best, assuming you get educational credit for it at all.

[Nodbugger]

They actually get away with having JROTC as a class? that's ridiculous, anything in that vein should be an extra-curricular activity at best, assuming you get educational credit for it at all.

If you take it you do not need to take gym. I do a hell of a lot more with that class than you ever do.

Plus If I ever wanted to enlist I started out as a higher rank, and when applying to college I get an automatic scholarship for completing 4 years of JROTC.

[Z-Man]

They actually get away with having JROTC as a class? that's ridiculous, anything in that vein should be an extra-curricular activity at best, assuming you get educational credit for it at all.

I am assuming that Noddy is talking about High School.

We had to take 4 years of English(language Arts) what weak ass school did he go to.

We had to take 3 years of Mathematics

We also had 2 years of a foriegn Language, We were not restricted to Spanish.

We also had 2 years of US History and 1.5 year of World history, which was a relief. Considering We took US History just about every year since we are 6.
The other 1/2 year was Economics.

The rest of the requirements were pretty much the same as at Noddy's.

[Z-Man]

WTF that place is only like 30KM squared.


And Monaco is even smaller

I remember in 8th grade we studied Andora, Luxemborg, Liechtenstein, and Monaco.

We actually briefly covered all nations except those in Africa, which we only di covered a few. But these above were fun to read about. It was odd to talk about these nations. The are so small and some have smaller populations than local cities. I guess at that age it gave an intresting slant on the world.

[beowulf437]

I've heard about a very famous speech by Benjamin Franklin that he made at the signing of the constitution, that is quoted in every school textbook, and censored in every school textbook, because he also said that the constitution wasn't perfect, and would need revision in the next hundred years or so, due to a number of potentially dangerous loopholes.

I think you might be mistaken.

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.
Letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy [Nov. 13, 1789]

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/quote73.htm

I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does;

http://www.usconstitution.net/franklin.html

The quote you are paraphrasing is about the Pensylvania Constitution of 1776, 13 years before the federal constitution. This state constitution was controversial and not very popular, the document was superceded by a new constitution in 1790.

[Nodbugger]

I am assuming that Noddy is talking about High School.

We had to take 4 years of English(language Arts) what weak ass school did he go to.

We had to take 3 years of Mathematics

We also had 2 years of a foreign Language, We were not restricted to Spanish.
We also had 2 years of US History and 1.5 year of World history, which was a relief. Considering We took US History just about every year since we are 6.
The other 1/2 year was Economics.

The rest of the requirements were pretty much the same as at Noddy's.


3 is a Graduation Requirement, everyone takes 4. 2 years of Math is a graduation requirement, everyone takes 3 or more. Language is not required, but most colleges need it. We are not restricted to Spanish. We have Spanish, French, German, and Latin(5 different levels of each , even college courses). They got rid of Russian because very few people wanted to learn it. They are thinking about adding an Asian type language.

The classes we have to take in social science courses are Western Civ, Us History, Economics, and Civics.


* History of Western Civilization - Honors
* History of Western Civilization
* Advanced Placement American History
* History of the United States - Honors
* History of the United States
* History of the United States Core
* American Civics - Honors
* American Civics
* Introduction to Economic Principles - Honors
* Introduction to Economic Principles
* Consumer Economics
* History of Asia and Africa



* AP Seminar in European History/AP English IV
* Advanced Placement Psychology
* History of American Film
* History of American Popular Music
* Psychology of the Mind
* Psychology of Personality
* Introduction to Sociology
* Introduction to Criminology and Law
* History of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia
* History of World War I and World War II
* American Originals
* History of Ideas
* History of Religions


All these were available to us.

[Z-Man]

What I am saying is that the school I went to required 4 years of English

[King_Crud]

I've got a Lichtenstein stamp in my passport. I think it cost 6 pounds, and frankly there was not much else to do there. We stopped there for lunch

[Merudo]

http://icefire.ozcasemodz.com/images/forum/goreshutoffweb.jpg

[Nodbugger]

the question here is the level at which that four years was taught. there are tons of students passing high school in states that have no basic grasp of the topics they should have covered. thus the current popularity of exit exams to determine a students actual level of education (hello racial discrimination debate).


Every year students at my school are required to take standardized tests for the state. The average score of our school is always higher than the average score of the state.

http://lwhs.will.k12.il.us/ReportCardFiles_04/ReportCard.htm

Here are my schools report cards.