One-fifth of Americans can’t find their own country on a map? A Miss Teen USA contestant tells us why…
And to think that once upon a time, American educational institutions were hotbeds for political dissent. Suffice to say, students protesting the war on Iraq in the same manner their grandparent’s did in the 60’s, is, well, way off. To be fair, the US is full of very intelligent and articulate individuals; graduates of some of the best universities in the world in fact. Some of those people even end up becoming President.
In any case, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be so hard on Mini Miss South Carolina. It is, after all, called a beauty pageant (‘drool-in-cup-and-look-hot contest’ came in second) and not a brains and beauty pageant. So I don’t know why they insist on testing the mental capabilities of contestants at these things just to show they’re looking for well-rounded figures (pun intended). Seriously, finding knowledge during one of these contests is as slim as a porn star finding religion at a sci-fi convention.
Ironically, her answer reminded me of practically every single time Bush has ever stood behind a podium and opened his mouth. Maybe the judges should start asking contestants if they have an exit strategy for Iraq.
Anyways, while most of the people living in the Arab world can find their own country on a map (and probably a few others as well), our region has a whole other set of problems when it comes to education. Problems I’ve talked about over and over and over again.
Hat Tip: Matthew Good
Ouch, that was painful. All looks and no brains, I guess.
I’d venture to say that 1/5 of Jordanians couldn’t find their own country on a world map.
Yesssssss I wasn’t the only person watching Miss Teen USA, I first thought it was Miss USA and wanted to see how far Arizona would go!
I laughed when one of the final contestants (North Carolina??) was asked, “What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve experineced so far?”, and she said. “snow boarding”
I just remember the tear gases I had in a football game when I was 14
Dave: you’d lose that bet!
Hareega: lol woah, i didn’t actually watch the show. I just found the clip.
Nas,
I just remember the tear gases I had in a football game when I was 14
Well, you’d lose that comparison. People get seriously injured or even killed in snowboarding accidents all the time. Tear gas is pretty annoying, but I’ve never heard of anybody being hospitalized from it, yet alone being killed.
Do you really think the average Arab is better educated or more intelligent than the average American? If that’s really true, it’s long since past tiem we cut aid for education to the rest of the world. We should be spending that money here at home, eh?
Craig: I completely agree! It seems you guys might need it a bit more than we do!
As someone from South Africa (you know that country where the kids have to go to school with big sharp sticks to ward off the lions who’ll eat their homework, amongst other things), I want to laugh and weep all in the same breath.
Craig,
If the tear gases Hareega faced at a football stadium loses the comparison (which I think not, with all the rage that goes with that), then I’m sure walking between israeli Marcava tanks at a time of curfew would win against snowboarding.
FYI a lot of people in Palestine were hospitalized and had nervous system problems, spasm in legs and hands, shock, semi-consciousness, hyperventilation, irritation and sweating due to “strange” Israeli tear gases used multiple times:
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/brooks.php?articleid=2957
http://www.vtjp.org/report/Timeline.htm
Well, our main educational problem is that our curriculum does not induce creative and critical thinking skills. However, the American system does, but seriously, I spent most of my schooling days there, and their curriculum didn’t have as much information as ours does. But in America, we always had to write term papers, and always had to refer to extra-curriculum references from the library. While in Jordan, both of those concepts are almost non-existent. I once read that societies are normally either cultured, or civilized. Americans are more civilized than cultured, while Jordanians are more cultured than civilized. Europeans and Asians make the best balance between both I think.
I still cannot comprehend why a decent portion of Americans are still not very well rounded when it comes to geography. For God’s sake, Iran and Iraq have been on the news for over 30 years now, and the average American cannot make the distinction between Persians and Arabs, and most use “Middle Eastern” to describe both, just to stay on the safe side! I used to explain things by saying: We’re (Arabs) are the falafel and hummus people, while the Persians are the rugs and cats people. For God’s sake, some kids at school used to ask me if I were related to Saddam Hussein or not. LOL. But it was really loads of fun to joke saying that we had an oil well in our backyard in Jordan. It was so much fun to see the look on their faces!
I wouldn’t generalise this to all Americans, but you made a good point in that Bush was educated in “the ivy league” of American universities, and yet his speeches contain gaffs high school students would be ashamed to make. (google Bushisms).
Is he really making all the decisions with his sig. ? Probably not, remember even Ronald Reagan consulted an astrologer on the most important ones.
btw, about the teargas, the Israelis have been known to use it indoors which is what can make it lethal. I happened to be in a comercial office building in Ramallah when teargas was launched at the ground floor. I barely made it out.
We should give American Geography a break, after all, the country itself is nearly a whole continent. Its a chore just to memorize where all the states are, and their capitals, let alone the rest of the world.
Roger,
If the tear gases Hareega faced at a football stadium loses the comparison (which I think not, with all the rage that goes with that)
It does lose out, and it doesn’t matter what you “think”. Tens of millions of people here in the US have gone through the “Gas Chamber” in bootcamp, where they are exposed extensively to tear gas in an enclosed space, both with and without gasmasks on. Nobody ever died from it.
then I’m sure walking between israeli Marcava tanks at a time of curfew would win against snowboarding.
Then why didn’t he say that? And I’d like to see some evidence of that as well. The actual number of deaths amongst Palestinians caused by Israeli military action is quite low, despite the rumors to the contrary. And the majority of those weer caused by combat actions, not by security measures.
FYI a lot of people in Palestine were hospitalized and had nervous system problems, spasm in legs and hands, shock, semi-consciousness, hyperventilation, irritation and sweating due to “strange†Israeli tear gases used multiple times
You’ll forgive me if I choose to ignore reports of Palestinians having more problems with tear gas than anyone else on the planet has ever had, I’m sure. I think a Palestinian would complain about illegal chemical weapons if a Jew farted in their general direction.
There is a type of teargas called “CN” (as opposed to the standard CS) that causes intense nausea. But it’s pretty hard to miss the evidence it’s been used, with all the people clutching at their guts and puking all over the place. I’m pretty sure that isn’t used anymore, anywhere, but I could be mistaken.
Well, out of the five contestants that were standing on stage at that point, I think it’s safe to guess which one can’t point the US on the map.
And you know what’s funny? The judges actually chose her over West Virginia LOL
Regarding Craig’s question: “Do you really think the average Arab is better educated or more intelligent than the average American?”
I don’t think so, but I believe high school education at least in Jordan is really better on average than in the US. However, there are two points that our high school education in Jordan is extremely lacking in: reading and extracurricular activities.
Craig,
The educational system in the US needs major reform. It is a real problem and it has been adressed by many experts, just today by chance I was reading about some stats regarding US students scores in international competitions and how their scores dropped dramatically in the last ten years, and now infront of me is a stat that says that in 2003 only 31% of university graduates demonstrated high skills in english literacy(which means that they can rad and understand long complex texts and draw inferences) and those were graduates not dorp outs..There is a real problem in the system and if it is not addressed quickly many nations will be ready to take over, trust me!
Mohanned, I don’t disagree with you. And I think it’s been more than 10 years that it’s been a problem. Kids in US schools are taught to memorize information, which is short term learning (at best). When I was kid, the emphasis was on UNDERSTANDING the curriculum, not memorizing whatever will be on the test. It has changed a lot. Also, the University system seems like little more than a diploma mill now. When my father got his PhD in the early 1970s, he was a pretty rare individual. A PhD or a master’s seem to be minimums for entry level positions in many fields, now. And a Bachelor’s? Well, yeah, if you want to work as a bank teller. Seems like anyone who has the time and the money can get a degree from someplace, eh?
I’m not really worried about it, though. If anything I think schools should be more selective, and degrees more hard to come by. A degree (of whatever type) only gets somebody’s foot in the door. It still takes talent to excel, and I don’t think the number of people with natural talent in the US has changed over the years. And, pardon me, but I don’t think there are higher percentages of highly intelligent and highly educated people in other countries than there are right here in the US. I’m sure if somebody went looking we could find whole boatloads of prominent Arab retards in the middle east.
By the way, she may not be as dumb as you guys think she is. Iraq and South Africa are number 1 and 2 in violent crime rates, worldwide. I doubt it’s a coincidence that those are the two she named, despite her clumsy language.
Geography is not taught nearly as much as it was in previous generations. I’ll bet that a very high percentage of Americans aged 45 and older would find most major countries on world maps. The younger generation simply never learns geography. They don’t learn spelling or English usage very well, either.
Also, the curriculum in American schools have been dumbed down considerably so that certain groups would not seem to lag behind so much. It used to be that college was considered appropriate for people who could handle college level work. Now that equality for everyone has been made into an inalienable right, everyone is supposed to be able to go to college and get a degree. So, they have made it easy for everyone to do so. Smart people will still excel, some dumb people with money or connections will still get into Ivy League universities, and America’s overall educational statistics will still look worse than they really are.
Gary-
Exactly right. The curriculum has been dumbed-down considerably, and I believe this is no accident – it’s by design. It’s not just geography that gets underemphasized – it’s also science and economics. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, at a time when Americans have to make some critical changes to prevent global climate change, two in five of us don’t believe in evolution. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Americans continue to shop at Wal-Mart in record numbers, despite the economic impact of the company’s policies on local retail markets, domestic manufacturing, and international environmental and labor standards. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Americans could be made to support a war on an abstract concept when they can’t find on a map the countries who are will continue to be playing host to our war on this abstract concept.
Keeping Americans dumb is a very profitable strategy for a lot of businesses.
She got a do over on that question
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=8d29be02-c076-4069-a5b5-8dd5766efd6e&t=m10&f=06/64&p=&fg=>1=10252
i think she needs another do over
she lost me at south africa o_O
Craig,
You’re funny dude!
It does lose out, and it doesn’t matter what you “thinkâ€Â. Tens of millions of people here in the US have gone through the “Gas Chamber†in bootcamp, where they are exposed extensively to tear gas in an enclosed space, both with and without gasmasks on. Nobody ever died from it.
Then they should borrow some of Israel’s chemical weapons and tear gases, and they will get the same symptoms, I wasn’t talking about disciplining some sick teens of America’s at a boot camp; I was talking about real life cop-people riots (what Hareega went through at the stadium, remember?)
Then why didn’t he say that? And I’d like to see some evidence of that as well. The actual number of deaths amongst Palestinians caused by Israeli military action is quite low, despite the rumors to the contrary. And the majority of those weer caused by combat actions, not by security measures.
I was talking about myself, and I’m sorry I didn’t stop to take pictures of the Mercava, I was just rushing home like any sane would.
About the number of deaths, I doubt what you really know, show me evidence, numbers anything to back your claims. And I’m pretty sure that babies, young children, people at their homes who were killed by the Israeli attack forces; weren’t involved in “combat actions”!
You’ll forgive me if I choose to ignore reports of Palestinians having more problems with tear gas than anyone else on the planet has ever had, I’m sure. I think a Palestinian would complain about illegal chemical weapons if a Jew farted in their general direction.
Be Israel’s guest and they’ll be more than happy to put you in a room and use their chemical gases on you, if they refuse just go live in Gaza for some time.
And it doesn’t matter what you think.
There is a type of teargas called “CN†(as opposed to the standard CS) that causes intense nausea. But it’s pretty hard to miss the evidence it’s been used, with all the people clutching at their guts and puking all over the place. I’m pretty sure that isn’t used anymore, anywhere, but I could be mistaken.
Trying to sound like a “tear gas expert”? I’m sorry to inform you Mr. Chemist; that you’re wrong; I don’t think anybody could guarantee that such things “aren’t used anymore”…
CNN and FOX will never tell you about any of that anyway, so go check what underwear Britney is wearing these days.
God bless America dude!
To Graig the programmer, video Israel does not want you to see
Again,,this is for Graig Censered video,if American Knew
Here is the right link