What Surprised You Most About the National Geographic Geosurvey Results?

[BobG]

I was surprised that more Mexicans could find the US on a map than people from the United States -- especially since only 29% of Mexicans could find West on a map.

I'd say there must be differences in the geographic skills taught in each country. People in the US seem to be pretty bad at reading global maps while Mexicans don't seem to pay much attention to the people living in various countries.

The biggest shock was that Sweden has successfully hidden itself from the entire world. Besides Sweden, only Germans had a better than 50% chance of finding Sweden. I could kind of understand it if the alternate choices were Norway, Finland, and Denmark, but the other choices were Great Britain, Poland, and Australia!

In general, it seems that if you speak English, you don't know that much about geography.

 

[Gokul43201]

One even remarked how much larger "N.Korea" (Australia) was compared to "S.Korea"(Tasmania)!

That's just priceless ! Do you still have the file ?

 

[Astronuc]

Speaking of geography and maps -

http://www.flourish.org/upsidedownmap/hobodyer-large.jpg

http://www.odt.org/hdp/index.htm

 

[Monique]

Take this survey, and look at the numbers below each answer showing the results by country.
http://geosurvey.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/templates/question_1.html
Which statistic shocked you the most and why ?

11% of americans can't even locate their own country??
pretty much the whole survey shocked me, funny that the americans DO know which region exports the most oil..

 

[FredGarvin]

Only 15% of the French knew what El Nino is. France is stupid.

 

[Gokul43201]

Only 15% of the French knew what El Nino is. France is stupid.

I know you're kidding, but what's your guess on the fraction of Americans who know what the Mistral really is?

 

[neutrino]

That's just priceless ! Do you still have the file ?

Sure I do...can't afford to lose something as priceless as that! Want me to forward it to you?

 

[Chi Meson]

I was surprised (honestly) to find that only 98% of Swedes can find Sweden! If THAT statistic can't be 100%, nothing can!

 

[matthyaouw]

I wonder why so much emphasis is being placed on locating somewhere on a map... Is it really that important a skill? It's not like you'll ever be told you have to find your own way there, nor does not knowing where Afghanistan is affect your understanding of its political situation.
(19/20 by the way. Didn't get the religion one)

Here's a pie chart of which percent of the world follows which religion.
http://www.adherents.com/images/rel_pie.gif

Wow, I really had no idea Judaism made such a small percentage.

 

[Monique]

I wasn't suprized at America's results, it's the other countries like Sweden, Germany, and Great Britain that suprized me. Like a quarter of those countries' peoples couldn't find the pacific ocean on the map. That's just sad. And I thought Europeans had good schools. Bah.

Well, there are several different names for the Pacific ocean. I myself know it best as the Great ocean or the 'Silent' ocean, not the Pacific.

 

[scott_alexsk]

I had some good teachers, so I got all of those right, easily. These statistics do not surprize me especially sitting with some of these people who are bringing down the national average, every day at school. I think a lot of this has to do with television and the current culture of the United States. I find that I can't even watch something remotly intelliegent any time I want. I mean look at how far the discovery channel has fallen. I used to watch that all of the time. I loved "Blue Planet." But then slowly I watched it be consumed by reality TV and now I barely watch it. There is so much previlance on how things look and that is why most kids do not take the time to pursue what they are interested in.
-Scott

 

[Pengwuino]

I wonder why so much emphasis is being placed on locating somewhere on a map... Is it really that important a skill?

National geographic was doing the survey... those punks :D

I was wondering something, isn't El Nino more prevelant in the Pacific Ocean then in the other oceans?

 

[Gokul43201]

I was wondering something, isn't El Nino more prevelant in the Pacific Ocean then in the other oceans?

Yes, that's right.

 

[Pengwuino]

Well then that would make sense as to why north america had such better statistics as far as that question was concerned.

 

[Gokul43201]

Well then that would make sense as to why north america had such better statistics as far as that question was concerned.

...as did Japan, naturally.

 

[Gokul43201]

The video clip that neutrino referred to : http://www.wimp.com/invading/

It's absolutely hilarious !

 

[Pengwuino]

ahahhaha oh man, you australians are in trouble if we ever decide to invade iran!

the ticker is pretty funny too

haha oooops, looks like australins are also in trouble if we ever decide to invade france.

Man you australians are screwed no matter what...

 

[Danger]

This is completely off-topic, and I apologize for that, but it's not worth starting a new thread for and this one is popular enough that most of my buds will see it. Just want to let you know that I'll be off for the weekend. My gf and I, along with her grand-nephew and his gf, are going to Lloydminster for a couple of days to pick up her van and bring it back. She left it there when she moved, because she needed to drive her truck back to carry stuff in. I'll be back either Sunday night or Monday. Three cheers to my boss for letting me go on a busy weekend (I'm the only employee). This is the first time that I've been out of the Calgary area in close to 20 years, so it's a major vacation for me.

 

[Astronuc]

The video clip that neutrino referred to : http://www.wimp.com/invading/
It's absolutely hilarious !

Yep - and those are adults. Hopefully he found someone who pointed out that the maps were wrong.

Danger - have fun, and have a safe trip!

 

[Pengwuino]

Was it real? It looked stage ... with the ticker being a big joke and all...

 

[FredGarvin]

I know you're kidding, but what's your guess on the fraction of Americans who know what the Mistral really is?

Yeah. I was kidding. I was just playing to the France bashing that goes on so much. I dare not guess at what percent of anything Americans know.

Please tell me that the video is a joke. Please.

 

[moose]

I was surprised (honestly) to find that only 98% of Swedes can find Sweden! If THAT statistic can't be 100%, nothing can!

I would think that more Americans would be able to point out America than only 89%... I mean, it's huge! It's just there! But some people... grrr

 

[Kenneth Mann]

That was the one that shocked me the most! I only missed the one about the largest world religion...I actually thought it was something other than Christianity.
I wasn't shocked, but found it disturbing nonetheless, that such a high percentage of Americans couldn't identify the middle eastern countries and didn't know which one the Taliban and Al Quaeda originated in.

Christianity has purportedly roughly 1.9 billion, and Islam roughly 1.1 Billion. Together that amounts to roughly half the world's population.

KM

 

[Kenneth Mann]

So Christianity wins ! Come to think of it, there's probably nearly as many Catholics as there are Muslims.

I'm not sure, but I would rather doubt that. Given present demographic trends, in fifty years Islam will probably be the largest religion on Earth. Let's just hope that these aren't largely radicalized, or we might have a warm time on this little planet.

KM

 

[Ki Man]

that was a very very simple test. i only got one wrong. i even named sweden. that's sad, the sweds got the highest score on where all the other country's are all the time but nobody knows where sweden is.

of course america knows who exports the most oil. why else would we send hundreds of troops over there and not texas.

i'm too young to apply for this test technically... oh well i brough up the percent thingy hopefully.

1/3 of all americans don't know the sun is a star, if they are shown a map of the solar system...

 

[Smasherman]

Wow, the US is like, saddening, considering the impact we're currently having on world affairs (not to mention being a rich enough country to have decent education!).

 

[Pengwuino]

Wow, the US is like, saddening, considering the impact we're currently having on world affairs (not to mention being a rich enough country to have decent education!).

haha well look at russia or china...

Too bad this isn't a problem we can just piss money into. The whole system is screwed up, reading writing and arithmatic (and why do they call that the 3 R's anyhow... maybe there's the first problem) has been replaced with sports, multiculturalism, and non-responsibility.

 

[moose]

Wow, the US is like, saddening, considering the impact we're currently having on world affairs (not to mention being a rich enough country to have decent education!).

Our crappy education system has absolutely nothing to do with money. The U.S. spends the second highest amount of money per student out of any country in the world!

It's things like the no child left behind act and core classes thought up by some complete idiot who doesn't know what's important.

 

[Kazza_765]

Please tell me that the video is a joke. Please.

I was about to post a reply saying that CNNNN had done something similar, but that's the clip you have. They're for real alright. The federal government here sent a memo to all its members warning them not to do any interviews with CNNNN. When they first started, they got quite a few politicians saying some pretty stupid things, who thought they were a real news station.

Its not on that clip, but they were also asking people whether or not they agreed with Bush's plans to invade xxxxxx, which was a non-existant country, and why. People were coming up with all sorts of "facts" they had heard about this country and its weapons programs etc. and saying how terrible they are (I have the whole season on DVD).

 

[Pengwuino]

It's things like the no child left behind act

You do realize that is relatively new (doesn't explain a history of bad results) and is already showing signs of increasing test scores since its implimentations right...

plus this was taken in 2002...

 

[Monique]

The U.S. spends the second highest amount of money per student out of any country in the world!

How is that, students have to pay enormous loads of tuition in the US, what does the government do in the process?

 

[Pengwuino]

How is that, students have to pay enormous loads of tuition in the US, what does the government do in the process?

... define "enormous loads"...

I currently pay $1400/semester and I never even bothered with financial aid. Most people do get financial aid however so there pretty much left with no bill or something like $600/semester. Junior colleges are easily paid off by financial aid and if you don't bother, its like $300 a semester. The only places you pay more then that are private institutions that are not supported by the government. Most (sometimes 90%) of people have large fellowships or scholarships etc etc that take up a good 50% of the tuition...

To add to that, my university runs off a budget of some $20,000 a student if I recall correctly. I pay $1400... government supplies the rest behind the scenes.

 

[Moonbear]

How is that, students have to pay enormous loads of tuition in the US, what does the government do in the process?

I think they're referring to elementary and secondary school, not college. Though, you only pay enormous loads of tuition if you attend a private university. State universities receive government funding that greatly offsets the cost of tuition for students.

Too bad this isn't a problem we can just piss money into. The whole system is screwed up, reading writing and arithmatic (and why do they call that the 3 R's anyhow... maybe there's the first problem) has been replaced with sports, multiculturalism, and non-responsibility.

So, what country's educational system provided your education?

 

[Monique]

... define "enormous loads"...

I currently pay $1400/semester and I never even bothered with financial aid.

That is the tuition that I paid for an entire year (AND everyone gets a monthly budget (a gift) to spend on books, housing, food) and I know several other countries where they have the same tuition or even where it is free. That's why I'm surprised that it was said that the US paids more per student. I think you mean that the US puts more money into research, which would be true (we are still striving to get to 3% of the gross national product).

 

[Gokul43201]

How would you count Grad student stipends ? Does that count as Education or Research ? The US funds far more - by over an order of magnitude - grad students than any other country. And most of the money comes from either state budgets, or agencies like NSF and NIH or depts like DoE and DoD.