32 Comments A couple days ago, Miss Teen South Carolina was asked why she thought 1/5 of Americans couldn’t locate the United States on a map. Her answer? Um…
So this afternoon, Bwog hit (newly-renovated!) College Walk and asked a sampling of Columbia students the same question.
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of all Americans can’t find the US on a map?
Adebisi: Is that true? Public education is crap. The government wants it to remain that way.
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of all Americans can’t find the US on a map?
Nelson: Let me think. I don’t want to sound like that stupid South Carolina whatever.
More illuminating interviews after the jump…
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of all Americans can’t find the US on a map?
Lee (left): (laughs) Oh the South Carolina question. (Adopts high-pitched voice) Oh, um, like South Africa they don’t have maps, (pause). More maps!
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of all Americans can’t find the US on a map?
Cliff: I would say because geography is not a requirement in schools anymore.
Jeff: I honestly don’t know.
Cliff: Global warming? El Nino?
Amanda: Because the US is all the think about. The US is all that matters, not its relation to anything else.
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of Americans can’t locate the US on a map?
Aleeza: I don’t know, I’m Canadian.
Kristin: That’s shocking. Not taught properly, I guess.
Aleeza: We Canadians all know how to find the States. I guess it’s a neighbor thing.
Bwog: So why do you think 1/5 of all Americans can’t locate the US on a map?
Thai (left): Most Americans are used to seeing Mercator maps which distort the poles.
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32 Comments
@wait so much for “Americans” being stupid:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1773116
@i can't even find the map :(
@cml It’s not so much that Americans are ignorant of geography in general but that their expertise is more in local geography, such as the locations of Target, Wal-Mart, and of course the Golden Arches. If you were from rural Tennessee and read that the average man in Jesus’ time never ventured more than five miles from his home, would you care where your country was located with respect to the rest of the world?
@yeah it’s not so much that Americans are ignorant of geography, but of everything that doesn’t directly relate to them in general. And how direly they (we) will pay for such ignorance in the years to come.
@listen, we’ve all been talking about Americans here. What about US Americans? Those are the ones South Carolina is referring to. South Africa. Asia. The eye-rack. Education. I believe.
@props to mario lopez for keeping his poise on that one
@this... is my favorite video on this topic ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oTRmOBSLSU
granted, they obviously cherry picked, but it really is pretty much just plain awesome.
@apologists should take a freakin science class. 1/5 of Americans referred to 1/5 of ADULTS. And if you think that’s not depressing, here’s a little tidbit about all your peers: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0502_060502_geography.html
Despite being quite funny, this post, and the aforementioned link are indescribably sad.
@this video just doesn’t get old.
also i don’t mean to be an asshole but what was the old saying? “god created war to teach americans their geography”?
@trick question I mean clearly, at least some portion of the population (i have no idea what the percentage is) is blind, so wouldn’t be able to find ANYTHING on a regular map, let alone America. And as most of my fellow posters have mentioned, another huge chunk of that 1/5 are little children and the elderly. Of course I’m sure some people are just stupid or weren’t educated, just not the entire 1/5. :-)
@i know why.. it appears to me that 1/5 of americans can’t spot their own country on a map because the other 4/5 will believe anything that a beauty pageant judge says as long as it sounds about right, places them in a superior majority and is backed up by ominous, unnamed, yet very official sounding “recent polls.”
@even if she was stumbling on her words because of speaking in front of millions, her answer on good morning america about it wasn’t too intelligent either.
@And And talking on TV isn’t speaking in front of millions?
@Duh! Because Americans learn their geography when they invade other countries, and having the Marines invading the US would certainly not help approval ratings.
@i see After writing articles this summer that had nothing to do with Columbia, Bwog is now artificially creating connections to Columbia. Good journalism.
@rjt The dude whose answer involved the Mercator projection is awesome.
@lol It’s the one that says “United States of America” over it.
@and less than half of kids can identify the Soviet Union on a modern map, and that county was almost triple our size
@i dont think anyone can identify the soviet union on a map right now
@we need we need to make cartography relevant to a new generation of map-users. Maybe if America looked more like an iPod or Michael Cera kids would find it easier to locate
@lol it’s almost a trick question, since 1/5 of Americans are children
@John A) Kiddies take geography. B) Most of our Cold-Warrior parents can’t tell the difference between the shape of one of the seven continents and that of any other. C) Don’t discount the diapered classes: senile citizens and babies can’t identify shit, and they make up a good ten to fifteen percent of the population.
The sad part is the pollster that came up with the figure probably didn’t interview a representative sample of Americans.
@also don’t discount the fact that most Americans are DUMB AS FUCK.
@seriously?? it looked like she had some kind of mental checklist of “impoverished nations” that she felt she had to mention in her answer to every question so as to appear “aware” and “magnanimous” and “charitable” enough to be crowned miss teen queen of the botched lobotomy jobs.
@A Cartographer I need work.
@Damn Wow, she may not have the brains, but I sure as hell would help her locate a few things on a map. Southern girls are by far the hottest.
@Norman Gorman I assume Aleeza meant “neighbour thing.”
@So sick I’m so sick of people ragging on Miss South Carolina. God, who wouldn’t stutter and fumble her words in front of an audience of millions?
@there's a difference between stuttering and not answering the question. it’s not like she stuttered her way through an intelligent answer, she just didn’t know what she was talking about.
@omg i love you BWOG!
more trivia!
where’s canada?
@vayner impossible is locating america on a map.
@because most americans are retards.
answer: UsWeekly doesn’t have a map of the world.
glad to be of service.