Are americans more ignorant than europeans?

[-Job-]

In Europe you have to learn a lot about many other countries' history in order to understand your own, so you are always more aware of other cultures.

But i would guess that a bigger percentage of people in the US have a high degree of specialization (good knowledge in a particular area) when compared to other countries.

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

i know that...it was just an example

 

[EL]

This is even worse than his alleged confusion of Switzerland and Sweeden.

Or of Switzerland and Sweden...

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

i wonder about the chances of him attacking iran instead of iraq.. :P

 

[Gokul43201]

I am left to wonder how that measures up against common knowledge of youth in other countries. I skimmed through the report and I didn't find a comparison. Shouldn't the study have included youth from other countries? And shouldn't it have included comparison to similar reports from decades ago? (Assuming such studies were done back then.)

From the 2002 geosurvey:

Americans ages 18 to 24 came in next to last among nine countries in the National Geographic-Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey, which quizzed more than 3,000 young adults in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. Top scorers were young adults in Sweden, Germany, and Italy.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/highlights.html

For question by question comparisons, start here:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/templates/answer_1_1_1.html

 

[berkeman]

Yes, you don't "hate", you passionately dislike. I understand.

drankin -- let it go. One of the things we enforce here on the PF is "no personal attacks or insults". Please keep your discussion non-personal. I understand that this whole thread is a bit on the edge, but I'm inclined to keep it open as long as we don't get posters bickering with each other.

 

[Mallignamius]

From the 2002 geosurvey:



http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/highlights.html

For question by question comparisons, start here:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/templates/answer_1_1_1.html

Thanks for that.

Those were shamefully easy questions. I didn't miss any, so now I wonder why so many missed... so many. But then, I have a brother who doesn't believe in a south magnetic pole (which I reason is what his needle is actually pointing at), and thinks K2 is higher than Everest. I guess it boils down to what matters most in one's world.

 

[StuMyers]

Or of Switzerland and Sweden...

Typo, honest!

 

[EL]

Typo, honest!

Hmpf, you're just ignorant, American...

 

[denverdoc]

well the fact of the matter we aren't doing much better in math or science, the second link is only an abstract. Sorry my subscription ran out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41278-2004Dec6.html
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/306/5703/1877a
http://www.usatoday.com/educate/mathscience/article-math2.htm