Take the geography test!

Andem

dev
Mar 24, 2002
5,643
128
63
Larnaka
This is a survey by Roper/National Geographic.

The article...

Survey Results: U.S. Young Adults Are Lagging

Despite the daily bombardment of news from the Middle East, Central Asia, and other world trouble spots, roughly 85 percent of young Americans could not find Afghanistan, Iraq, or Israel on a map, according to a new study.

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.

Out of 56 questions that were asked across all countries surveyed, on average young Americans answered 23 questions correctly. Others outside the U.S., most notably young adults in Mexico, also struggled with basic geography facts. Young people in Canada and Great Britain fared almost as poorly as those in the U.S.

Among young Americans’ startling knowledge gaps, the study found that

• nearly 30 percent of those surveyed could not find the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest body of water;
• more than half—56 percent—were unable to locate India, home to 17 percent of people on Earth; and
• only 19 percent could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons.
Several perhaps interrelated factors affected performance—educational experience (including taking a geography course), international travel and language skills, a varied diet of news sources, and Internet use. Americans who reported that they accessed the Internet within the last 30 days scored 65 percent higher than those who did not.

The Survey...

http://geosurvey.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/templates/question_1.html
 

Andem

dev
Mar 24, 2002
5,643
128
63
Larnaka
I personally scored 20/20. It was just so easy! But to see how top countries around the world scored on the SIMPLEST of questions was amazing.
 

Cyberm4n

Electoral Member
Jun 6, 2002
259
0
16
43
Toronto
Woah! The results are so off key. Wow, I had NO clue how much Americans and even Canadians and British know about the world. 8O Whew!

So what are we gonna do about this?! We really can't have the north americans thinking like this. I wonder who they surveyed for the questions. For Example: Did they ask southern Americans and Canadians from Newfoundland? ... and British from the North secluded areas?

Swedes seem really smart!
 

Anonymous

Electoral Member
Mar 24, 2002
783
0
16
In the atlas, North America has about thirty countries, yet the media in Canada only considers people in Canada and the United States to be North Americans. Mexicans nor Cubans ever get called North Americans in the media.
 

Andem

dev
Mar 24, 2002
5,643
128
63
Larnaka
Anonymous said:
In the atlas, North America has about thirty countries, yet the media in Canada only considers people in Canada and the United States to be North Americans. Mexicans nor Cubans ever get called North Americans in the media.

Sir/Madam,

It's similar across the world.

The English have not *really* ever considered themselves a part of Europe.

Kiwis (that term is used in a loving way) don't refer to themselves as Australians.


There are a few similar cases around the world.

It's a cultural thing really. For the record, I've always considered Mexico as North America.
 

Andem

dev
Mar 24, 2002
5,643
128
63
Larnaka
WulF-Krigan said:
We need to get that Mexican education level up there to at least the subpar american scores!

Haha, :)

It would be nice if we were all like the Swedish. I really have respect for the brains most swedes and other nordics have.