I’ve seen multiple videos equivalent of Americans pointing where (country) is on the map, and there was an instance where the host asked the woman where the continent Africa is located (points to Asia) like WTF? That’s not even close at all.
I know there’s bias towards those types of videos since there are accusations of the host “handpicking” select strangers framing them as if they are representative of the US. But the truth is that their education system isn’t good as it lacks funding.
When you put it into perspective: how many Europeans can correctly locate & name countries adjacent to them within their own continent and globally? Is the education system within the EU that good or effective at teaching kids that subject?
When you put it into perspective: how many Europeans can correctly locate & name countries adjacent to them within their own continent and globally?
Practically all of them. Seriously.
I met some Italians who couldn’t name all the countries Italy borders. Seriously. It was shocking. I do think Italy has the worst public school system in the EU.
Yeah, but italy borders the balkans thats just impossible
?
By land or by sea?
Either way.
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Most Americans always have had a shitty education, but the last few decades it really went down a toilet
Geography isn’t the only thing they’re bad at, it’s just a funny obvious one, especially when they need their point out the country they’re invading this time
And yes, pretty much all Europeans can point out heit neighbouring countries, most of them can pretty much point at any county on a map or a globe, because w received an education
how many Europeans can correctly locate & name countries adjacent to them
Nearly all, seriously, because nearly all have been to some school for at least a few years.
@Zwuzelmaus @LtDan The fact that someone even posits this question really points out just how bereft many Americans are of an actual general education.
I still remember playing a game as a kid where I had to name all countries adjacent to mine (which are like 15 for Germany) and I got them all right.
Edit: ah no it was even more difficult. It was all countries adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.
Like you mentioned, many of those videos are doctored to make common Americans look stupid. I would even venture a guess and say that some of them are straight up fake with people probably being paid to act as stupid as possible.
As for Europeans’ ability to place countries on a map, I believe it varies in the same way it does in America. Some will be super sharp at it, others, probably most, will know some and then blank on the rest. Few will be entirely ignorant about geography.
I have a flags of the world app that I use once in awhile to train myself to recognize flags from different countries. There is an option to also try and place flags on the map and you work your way through one continent at the time. I absolutely fucking suck at placing flags in Africa and Polynesia. I have gotten to a point where I recognize most of their flags, so there is that, but I am still hopeless with the map part. I have a few blind spots in Asia and South America too. I am pretty strong with Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia at this point.
For me, I started practicing with the app years ago exactly because I realized how terrible my geography skills were even inside Europe. Later on it became a matter of rebellion when the Ukrainian war went into full swing and I wanted to give a big fuck you to the invisible wall that still stands between western and eastern Europe. Many people I know have always been geographically blind to eastern Europe, but that seems to be something many of us have worked on in recent years.
Now it is just a longterm goal for me to take some time once in awhile to practice. Can’t hurt to learn some basic bitch geography.
Ironically, the one thing I’m worse at placing than African countries, is American States, but they also aren’t a part of my flag app, so I haven’t actually practiced them. Similarly haven’t practiced the German States since I was in 7th grade so I only know a couple of those and blank on the rest.
If you hear, let’s say, Somalia, normally people would know it’s roughly somewhere east in Africa, Uruguay somewhere in South America etc.
I’ve traveled a lot and only from Americans I’ve heard them say about countries they’ve “never heard of it”. When I say I’m in Czechia, they just call it Chechnya, when I say I’m Dutch they love to mix that up with Denmark for some reason, etc.
Their excuse is always the same too: their school sucks. Dude, we didn’t learn this stuff in school neither. It’s common interest about the world around you, watching the news, etc. Half the countries you “don’t know” were bombed by you.
I think what also helps is that we have and value a lot of educational games and tv shows instead of mostly brainrot diversion.
Czechia is not surprising, as in NA it’s been generally called the Czech Republic since Czhechoslovakia split.
That was across the whole anglosphere. They - the czechs - have changed it recenty - no more than a few years ago.
10 years ago, actually. Some places in the English world are just slow on the uptake.
It’s been the short name since 1992 but the English speaking world didn’t really pick it up until the government started pushing for English speakers to finally use it in official documents
Yes and no, I guess.
Theres some grade A morons in Europe as well. But I guess on the whole Europeans have better base education compared to the Americans. Doesn’t help that Americans keep speaking of “Europe” as a whole, while Europe speaks of multiple different European countries as individuals.
To be fair we usually do the same about Africa
But we do know the states, right? I remember my highschool friend not being alowed to go to a party unless she told her dad which states were neighbors of Burundi.
Lol
Yeah well. I can tell you if a country is in Africa or not, but I can maybe pin 20% of them with accuracy.
Quick fire quiz: Which of these are in Africa?
- Guinea
- Guyana
- Papua New Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Equatorial Guinea
Trick question! All of these are made up!
“Europe is a TERRIBLE Country”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbtchT6Bt-k
I will say that I know all 50 US states and there’s really no reason why I should, as a European.
European education is incredible by comparison to the US. We only learn solid, liquid, gas, and maybe plasma.
My partner was telling me the other day about an American guy she saw on TikTok complaining that people from Europe don’t know enough about American geography.
I grew up in the UK in the '90s, where almost every cultural touchpoint was from the US. Cartoons, music, movies, it was all American. As a result I almost certainly know more US state capitals than I know European, and can confidently point out the locations of at least half of the US states on a map. Maybe even more.
But, like, why? Why do I need to know that shit? Why should I care?
I don’t know the names of any of the counties, or municipalities or whatever it is that subdivides France, and that’s the closest non-UK country to where I’m currently sitting. Hell, I don’t even know what they call those subdivisions.
So to answer the original question; fuck knows.
I grew up in the UK in the '90s, […] it was all American.
So it is in fact Great Britain and not Greenland that should belong to Usa. Has he just mixed up the names of two islands with a G?
/s
France has départements and régions, the first one being the smallest subdivision before cities, villages etc. Examples of regions are Brittany, burgundy, etc. Examples of department are Ile de France (Paris), bouches du Rhône, Corsica.
Manythank.
Yes.
While you are likely still correct, citing a survey from 2002 does not work in favor of your point
It probably got worse by now
There’s an old series of videos by Rick Mercer of Canada that does some similar cherry-picking of US residents responding to questions. They’re all done as a joke (Rick Mercer is a comedian) but they’re a surprising amount of accuracy to them. Mercer even interviews some US politicians in it and gets them to say some ridiculous things about Canada that show their lack of knowledge on foreign matters.
The US education is well-documented as an ineffective system but it’s not homogeneous across the country so I don’t think anyone would be correct to make any broadly-sweeping claims about how knowledgeable US residents are. Just know that some of them aren’t very bright and some of them are politicians.
You have to also factor in that culturally, America hates smart people. A politician who is knowledgeable about those things would be less likely to get votes, a lot of them are smart people who play dumb because they know dumb wins votes. A lot of politicians were viewed negatively and their opponents attacked them for being informed and knowledgeable people, and it worked very well. John Kerry is an excellent example of a politician who is incredibly smart and capable, but got politically destroyed for it.
Even Trump is way smarter in person by most accounts. But his public person is dumb as rocks because that’s what voters love, because our voters HATE anyone who seems smarter than them. It makes them feel condescended to.
Personally, I deal with the same thing. Say stupid dumb shit, and people like you. Say something smart and informed, they tend to dislike you. And I have known a lot of smart people who refuse to show their intelligence in most social settings because they know people won’t like them if they do.
There are very few environments where being intelligent and informed is generally rewarded. Usually only in the context of school and work, and often in higher-income/education communities, which are far and few.
People who only ever think within their country and, related to that, don’t know any geography beyond their borders exist everywhere. Hell, that’s the majority of the world. You just don’t see their gaps in world knowledge in the English-speaking world, because, well, they don’t speak English. And in my opinion, as long as you don’t have any responsibility towards the world, it shouldn’t be reprehensible to be ignorant towards the world.
However, I can imagine that the average European has a higher minimum knowledge about world geography than the the average American. And I think the biggest reason for that is the worldwide reach of US mainstream media. In European countries you passively get more exposure to the rest of the world - especially US music, movies, etc., but not only that. E.g. football fans will at least hear about countries and cities all around the world. The US media on the other hand, although it is definitely widening, is still much more egocentric, again, especially because they are the mainstream.
Well, I can point out all the continents and most countries on a map (approximately), even subdivisions (states etc.) in many western countries. But anecdotal evidence doesn’t really help that much for this question, IMO. Just go look up some statistics.
I think it has to do with the size of the USA. People care and learn about their immediate neighbors. European countries have many neighbors while the USA has two. Moreover, depending where you are in the US, your nearest neighbor might be 1,000 miles away. So as Americans it makes more sense for us to learn about our neighboring states (where we will more likely be traveling).
Europeans learn about countries all around the world, though, not just European ones. States, their capitals, physical geography, natural resources, production and export, a bit of etnography, culture and anything noteworthy. Not everything sticks with everyone, of course, but people here do get quite a good basic overview.
Is this not taught in the US?
I could probably place a majority correctly and give a ‘about here’ for the rest. Sub Saharan Africa, Central America and the Pacific islands (especially) are a weak point.
LOL. Americans can’t even find the USA on a world map or globe.
