Wow, I must say, I don't follow US politics myself, but really once they got to the geographical questions, I can't even believe they didn't know the countries bordering the US.
Very average, it'd be dishonest to act surprised. People are stupid in a lot of different ways. We are also people.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7111005509913775935 If you have ever seen/heard of the rick mercer report(rags on a lot of Canadian crap) he went and did this. Lovingly called "talking to Americans". Enjoy but remember folks! Canada is a land locked country!
LOVE RICK MERCER. And correction: when he rags on Cnaadian crap its political satire, you make it sound like he's just an insulting douchebag lmao
Well I mean he is a pretty funny guy, sorry my I forget how to do things smart at that time in the morning
Surprising how many countries starting with U they got, even if none of them could pick one out on a map. Utopia was a good one. Maybe it just sounded like a country name. I would have got one wrong though; would have said War of Independence instead of Revolutionary War.
They're just kids with shitty teachers, I wouldn't be too hard on them Sometimes it takes people awhile to understand why it's important to know things, but sadly these days its pretty easy to get by while knowing absolutely nothing. I don't think you can blame kids for that though, they haven't had a lot of time and spend most the time they have worrying about fitting in with their "friends" and avoiding their screwed up parents... These kids are maybe 15 or 16? I can look back on myself then and say with complete confidence that I didn't know shit. Can you guys really say any different? If you're going to criticize anyone, criticize the dbag who made the video and probably used it to mock his peers. He's an asshole, and his mom is a lawyer. EDIT: The Rick Mercer thing is kind of different, because it was just kind of a joke about how Canada (and most other countries) are so unimportant to most Americans in their everyday life that they don't need to know anything about it, which is kind of funny from the typical self-deprecating Canadian humour perspective. I don't think he meant it to be an implication about how "smart" anyone is. Those are just the kind of things we find funny down south here on Canada island.
I guess I'm just saying that the more you learn, the more you find out you don't know...and when I was 16 I had it all figured out, so go figure
Either or both the teacher and student are at fault. When I grew up in Atlanta I learned about American History early on. I just think it's bad that people don't know the difference between the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. I would take Ben K's response of the "Independence War"; close enough. Now, I think it's a bit of both the decline of education in the country; as well as the decline of the I-Pod generation. I don't expect every American to know everything about America. Honestly I only could remember two of the bill of rights, but that is also something you don't think about everyday. I didn't know who the vice president was when I was a kid, but I knew who the president was. So, those questions weren't surprising. I just don't understand how you could live in the United States and not know there are 50 states, and what war won America's freedom. The revolutionary War in 1776. It just sucks to see the country's educational decline know matter who is at fault; the teacher or the student. I Personally think it's both, but either way it's a tragedy. P.S. I was pretty stupid as a kid, but I wasn't that stupid! Experience grows with age.
Haha funny stuff, lets be honest though, thats pretty average. There are vids of random people out on the street being asked these type of questions and its just as bad. In general, Americans don't care much about American history nor geography.