People are geographically challenged

This has been making the rounds, but in case you haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQp8M0bkarM

This was an actual county supervisor who was speaking. How can you get to such a point in life not knowing the basic layout of the states in the USA? How could you speak without checking it if you were not sure?

But on a larger scale, how much of a problem is this in the USA? I think it is fdairly large. Myself I have had employees who could not read a roadmap. I don't expect you to know how to read a military grid or wilderness map, but how can you not know how to read a AAA/Rand-McNally roadmap? Survey claim something like 20% of High School Students cannot find the USA on a map.

Has anyone else run into this?

Eh, not surprised:

http://wizardofvegas.c/forum/off-topic/off-topic/1754-people-are-geography-challenged/

This goes right along with my thread that People are math challenged.



My wife can't read a map to save her life. And doesn't even know basic geography. We live in Northern NJ. The first few times we went to AC, she didn't know the best route. I.E. She didn't know that the Garden State Parkway would be needed (about 120 miles of the 160 mile trip is on the Parkway). Coming home, she'd remember that we need to use the Parkway, but would be unsure if we go North or South. This is despite the fact that she DOES know we live in Northern New Jersey.

A few years ago got a job where she is often on the road. She'd call me, and I'd have to go on Google Maps and talk her thru. Then I got her a GPS. It was the best present I could have given her. Or me.



But that video? Clickable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQp8M0bkarM

I knew AZ borders Mexico, but I checked, since I figured maybe it's a short border, and that might be her excuse. The AZ / Mexico border is less than half as long as the Texas border, but longer than CA & NM combined. Yeah, she's an idiot. And it was funny the way the second person in that video was trying to not simply call her an idiot.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

This goes right along with my thread that People are math challenged.

I remembered that thread and thus chose the header. I forgot the previous PAGC headline, though.

Quote:

I knew AZ borders Mexico, but I checked, since I figured maybe it's a short border, and that might be her excuse. The AZ / Mexico border is less than half as long as the Texas border, but longer than CA & NM combined. Yeah, she's an idiot. And it was funny the way the second person in that video was trying to not simply call her an idiot.

I find this similar to the guy who took racial offense at the use of the term "black hole." I don't expect people to know the technical stuff, but a basic understanding of things.

I was living in Atlanta in 1996 when the city hosted the summer Olympic Games. For about six months leading up to the games, there were telephone banks receiving orders for event tickets. One operator received a call from a customer in New Mexico and refused to accept the order. She told him he would need to contact his consul, saying the Atlanta staff were only set up to handle orders from within the US. The national media had a field day mocking the redneck Georgia yokels who didn't even know that New Mexico is part of the United States. They took every opportunity to criticize the public education system that would lead to such an error.

That spring I sent email to the editors of Time magazine, relating the story of the call center operator (whom they too had mocked) and commenting on Time's 4/29/96 article "The Tide Turns." A graphic accompanying that article had the southern states mis-labeled, showing Virginia as south of North Carolina. I suggested that perhaps the writers, illustrators, and editors at Time might be as geographically challenged as a Georgia yokel.

I received a very nice reply apologizing for the "mysterious but nontheless inexcusable error." They said, "We can assure you that an instructive geography-alert memo has been circulated." I think there was probably egg all over somebody's face in the editorial suite.

The whole thing amused me enough that I saved the email exchange. I mention it here to show that even those who really, really are supposed to know these things sometimes get stuff screwed up.

Quote: Doc

I was living in Atlanta in 1996 when the city hosted the summer Olympic Games. For about six months leading up to the games, there were telephone banks receiving orders for event tickets. One operator received a call from a customer in New Mexico and refused to accept the order. She told him he would need to contact his consul, saying the Atlanta staff were only set up to handle orders from within the US. The national media had a field day mocking the redneck Georgia yokels who didn't even know that New Mexico is part of the United States. They took every opportunity to criticize the public education system that would lead to such an error.

I once had a high school teacher say years before, in the middle school, there was a fistfight over NM being a state or a country. If I was principal I'd have given one detention to each and a second to the one who thought it was a country.

FWIW the level of geographic knowledge is miserable all over the world.

Mexico City is made up of the Federal District, plus surrounding counties (I use the term for simplicity's sake) in the State of Mexico. One such is Naucalpan, which is about 300 yards from my workplace. To be sure it's a big county, but the farthest point shouldn't be more than 12 or 15 miles from where I work. Well, one time we were discussing a customer's location and someone said "But that's all the way over in Naucalpan!" He did have the grace to blush when 1) he was shown that far-off place from the office window and 2) learned the customer was about 3 miles away.

Try to get people to name half a dozen heads of state around the world.

Quote: AZDuffman

I find this similar to the guy who took racial offense at the use of the term "black hole."

Maybe he thought they were referring to the orifice in which his head was loacted.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Maybe he thought they were referring to orifice where his head was.

What I find interesting about "black" is that it can mean good or bad. "Black <inseret day of week>" is bad, "Black Hole" is bad. But in many things, black = professional. Untilo the 1970s no serious bowler and certainly no pro would use anything but a black ball. Limos used to always be black. Photographers used bloack cameras despite the fact that using a dark colored camera outside would transmit more heat to the film, etc.

Though in college my grades went up after I stopped using the black highlighter......

Just an observation.

How about running for congress and thinking that Puerto Rico is a country?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-m0HiB4gjE

Quote: AZDuffman

This was an actual county supervisor who was speaking. How can you get to such a point in life not knowing the basic layout of the states in the USA? How could you speak without checking it if you were not sure?

Perhaps she should try playing this:

place the states game

There are varying degrees of difficulty available and the above is a good intermediate level. You have to place the state where it belongs, with a deduction in score for how many miles off you are. Some are easy, (Florida, Alaska), some can be pretty difficult when there isn't any other state that is already in place, (Kansas, Iowa). I did get a perfect score, but not on my first try, and that was probably due in part to some luck in the order with hard to place states.

That site has a lot of different educational games that are fun even if you already know the subject pretty well. Some of them can be challenging for portions of the world you may be less familiar with. It would be great if some of the geographically challenged would spend a little time playing these, instead of online checkers.

Quote: pacomartin

Try to get people to name half a dozen heads of state around the world.

The difference there is heads of state change often. Geography tends to remain constant, excepting major political upheavals.

Quote: pacomartin

Try to get people to name half a dozen heads of state around the world.

U.S.A. - Barack Obama
U.K. - Queen Elizabeth II
Thailand -- King Bhumibol Adulayej (sp?)
Japan -- Emperor Akihito
France -- Nicolas Sarkozy
Russia -- Dmitri Medvedev

Actually, pretty difficult if you are just taking about heads of state, not heads of government. I couldn't remember who the President of Mexico is :(. Or the guy that is in charge of China -- the one that isn't Hu Jintao?

(Edit: Okay, it was Felipe Calderon. For some reason I thought it had changed recently).

Quote: teddys

Actually, pretty difficult if you are just taking about heads of state, not heads of government. I couldn't remember who the President of Mexico is :(

Sometimes I wish I coulnd't rememebr that, either ;)

There are also countries who have both a president and a prime minister. Who heads what? depends on the particular country.

Sure, any well-informed person should be able to know who the most important 10 heads of state or government are. But for the average person it's not really that important (I think the average person lacks either the time or the inclination to follow international politics).

Quote: Nareed

I think the average person lacks either the time or the inclination to follow international politics.

International? Try National.

Ask the average American the name of:
The Vice President
The First Lady
Thier state's Governor
Any of their state's Senators or Representatives
The number of Senators their state has

Sadly, I can only answer the first and last of these questions.

The funny thing is, that last question is a trick question. All states have two Senators. However, if asked 'The number of Senators or Representatives their state has', that would more likely jog their memory into realizing that it's a partial trick question.

For the record, I don't know how many Reps NJ has. I want to say 14, but I have no idea.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

International? Try National.

Ask the average American the name of:
The Vice President
The First Lady

These two are figureheads who do little more than parrot the Whitehouse line, whatever that may be. Unless the president is near death, the VP's identity is not important. Besides it's Dan Quayle (or might as well be <g>)

Quote:

Any of their state's Senators or Representatives
The number of Senators their state has

Is that the number in the state legislature or in Congress?.

Quote: teddys

U.K. - Queen Elizabeth II
Thailand -- King Bhumibol Adulayej (sp?)
Japan -- Emperor Akihito
France -- Nicolas Sarkozy
Russia -- Dmitri Medvedev

The European heads of state (outside of the French President are very difficult for most people). They tend to remember the monarchs. People often remember the German Chancellor instead of the German president.

The republican movement in the UK seems to think that they are better off with a president then a monarch. Of course, the Americans will never remember his name, and they will constantly be asking what the difference is between the president and the prime minister.

Faces change, names change... but they are lying pompous idiotic thieves and I see no need to differentiate amongst them. I remember when there was a hunting accident in Texas and the incident made headlines around the world because a politician had shot someone in the face instead of the back.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

For the record, I don't know how many Reps NJ has. I want to say 14, but I have no idea.

There are 13 U.S. Reps from NJ. Your 15 member electoral college took me to victory in a north-east total vote over/under in my 2004 electoral college handicapping pool:-)

Quote: PaulEWog

Perhaps she should try playing this:

place the states game

There are varying degrees of difficulty available and the above is a good intermediate level. You have to place the state where it belongs, with a deduction in score for how many miles off you are. Some are easy, (Florida, Alaska), some can be pretty difficult when there isn't any other state that is already in place, (Kansas, Iowa). I did get a perfect score, but not on my first try, and that was probably due in part to some luck in the order with hard to place states.

That site has a lot of different educational games that are fun even if you already know the subject pretty well. Some of them can be challenging for portions of the world you may be less familiar with. It would be great if some of the geographically challenged would spend a little time playing these, instead of online checkers.

Grrrr....got Wyoming first and missed by 120 miles. Then I got the next 49 states perfect, not counting a mouse error where I somehow dropped Hawaii into Minnesota. I WISH we had their weather;-)

Quote: DJTeddyBear

International? Try National.

Ask the average American the name of:
The Vice President-
The First Lady
Thier state's Governor -
Any of their state's Senators or Representatives
The number of Senators their state has

Sadly, I can only answer the first and last of these questions.

The funny thing is, that last question is a trick question. All states have two Senators. However, if asked 'The number of Senators or Representatives their state has', that would more likely jog their memory into realizing that it's a partial trick question.

For the record, I don't know how many Reps NJ has. I want to say 14, but I have no idea.

The Vice President- Joe biden
The First Lady -michelle obama
Thier state's Governor - Chris Christie, also known as asshole.
Any of their state's Senators or Representatives- sens frank lautenberg, bob menendez. congress- leonard lance,didn't vote for him, not sure of the others.
The number of Senators their state has- 2, I also live in northern NJ. Come on DJTeddyBear, you gotta represent NJ better than that lol.

Quote: pacomartin

Try to get people to name half a dozen heads of state around the world.

I remember back in the POTUS election of 2000 a reporter decided to play "gotcha journalism" with then-Govenor Bush and asked the names of several heads of state. Bush rightly asked why the question and his campaign pointed out it was a campaign and not an episode of "Joepardy!" Several news anchors said they would have not have gotten them all, either.

Quote: PaulEWog

Perhaps she should try playing this:

place the states game

There are varying degrees of difficulty available and the above is a good intermediate level. You have to place the state where it belongs, with a deduction in score for how many miles off you are. Some are easy, (Florida, Alaska), some can be pretty difficult when there isn't any other state that is already in place, (Kansas, Iowa). I did get a perfect score, but not on my first try, and that was probably due in part to some luck in the order with hard to place states.

That site has a lot of different educational games that are fun even if you already know the subject pretty well. Some of them can be challenging for portions of the world you may be less familiar with. It would be great if some of the geographically challenged would spend a little time playing these, instead of online checkers.

Is anyone else having problems with the game crashing?

Almost every election, the media tests an incoming freshman representative or senator by asking them "What do you think about the situation in ___________ (insert fictional country name here). About 3/4ths of the time, the politician will not instantly realize that it's a fake country, and will go into some generic comment about "how we need to work with the UN, the country's leaders, and their neighbors, all for the good of the people living there".

I believe they got Jim Talent on this by using the country of Karondistan.

On another note, I'm always amazed at the number of people who can't tell directions by North-South-East-West.

Quote: Toes14

Almost every election, the media tests an incoming freshman representative or senator by asking them "What do you think about the situation in ___________ (insert fictional country name here). About 3/4ths of the time, the politician will not instantly realize that it's a fake country, and will go into some generic comment about "how we need to work with the UN, the country's leaders, and their neighbors, all for the good of the people living there".

I believe they got Jim Talent on this by using the country of Karondistan.

On another note, I'm always amazed at the number of people who can't tell directions by North-South-East-West.

Heh Heh--I made a joke on youtube once on a "The West Wing" clip about how 60% of American HS Seniors cannot fing Qumar on a map--someone asked if I was serious!

As to NSEW directions, in some places that doesn't work. Roads in Western PA meander and to say "north on x" can be meaningless. Here is an example: the "Parkway West" in Pittsburgh used to be signed I-279N/S. Now the very same road is I-376E/W. Same road. Parts are also a state highway signed N/S and parts a USA Route signed E/W.

Oh, part of the road runs thru a town called "Moon" and another town called "Mars" is just 30 minutes from there.

Now if I could just find where British Hondouras is on my new map I'll be fine.........

Ha, I shouldn't post this, but what the hell. http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-7111005509913775935#

Video: Talking to Americans, with Rick Mercer (famous Canadian personality). Originally, "talking to Americans" was a segment on a popular news parody show called "This Hour has 22 Minutes". The segment was so popular, it spun off into its own full hour special in the early 2000's. The premise: Rick Mercer heads south to the US to ask Americans basic geography questions about Canada with hilarious results.

vote Jean Poutine for Prime Minister.

A few of the streets in my city have N,S,E & W segments. You can drive in a (relatively straight line) along King W, to King E, to King S to King N.

It's confuzzling to visitors.

Quote: AZDuffman

Now if I could just find where British Hondouras is on my new map I'll be fine.........

Oh, somewhere near Belize, I think...

I just finished a stay at the Grand Sierra in Reno (review coming soon) and had this conversation with a dealer:

Her: "So where are you from?"
Me: "Pennsylvania"
Her: "Wow, that must be really far away! Did you drive?
Me: "No, driving would take me about 2 days. I flew in."
Her: "How long was the flight?"
Me: "About 6 hours."
Her: "Wow, that's like flying from here to Hawaii."
Me: "Yep."

All fairly standard, but then this bombshell...

Her: "Is PA closer to Hawaii than Nevada?"

...

I did tip her a few bucks, which she hopefully used to buy an atlas.

I get mixed up on the names sometime but is that the casino in Reno that has been on the brink of being closed for having sufficient capital or not paying their taxes or something. If things are so bad for the casino, you can bet they are bad for the dealers too.

Quote: OneAngryDwarf

Me: "No, driving would take me about 2 days. I flew in."

Two days! I would be very impressed with that. When we moved from Baltimore to Las Vegas it took six days, and that was driving about 8 hours a day.

Quote: Wizard

Two days! I would be very impressed with that. When we moved from Baltimore to Las Vegas it took six days, and that was driving about 8 hours a day.

Some people are unstoppable. I've known people who drive 1000 miles their first day (like 14 hours of speeding) and they cross the country in 3 days.

Quote: pacomartin

Some people are unstoppable. I've known people who drive 1000 miles their first day (like 14 hours of speeding) and they cross the country in 3 days.

I know some guys that drove from New Jersey to Los Angeles in 40 hours, but they took turns driving around the clock.

We left Maryland on a Wednesday midday, then finished the night at Caesars Indiana (Free room)....maybe 600 miles?
Then Thursday was Indiana to Harrah's in Topeka KS (free - Prarie Bend??) maybe another 600
Friday was the long day, KS to Grand Junction CO (no casino, a motel)
Saturday CO to Vegas. It was a lot of driving but the trip from Denver to Vegas was probably the best drive scenically I've taken

Personally I don't like driving. I have very seldom done over 500 miles in a day in my life.

Quote: cclub79

We left Maryland on a Wednesday midday, then finished the night at Caesars Indiana (Free room)....maybe 600 miles?
Then Thursday was Indiana to Harrah's in Topeka KS (free - Prarie Bend??) maybe another 600
Friday was the long day, KS to Grand Junction CO (no casino, a motel)
Saturday CO to Vegas. It was a lot of driving but the trip from Denver to Vegas was probably the best drive scenically I've taken

I loved my first cross-country drive. Rochester, NY to Phoenix. Long time to get there so I stayed a day in St Louis to see some sights. I would love to do it again, maybe a different route through KS next time. I think there are two things that make a drive like that pleasant. One is I only did it one-way. Even if you have to return to where you started (99% of people) if you can make a big circle of sorts. Second is to have time be a minimal factor so you dson't fall into the "how many miles can I cram into a day" thing.

Onbe thing I didn't realize is how much time zones play into it. Going west I gained three hours (no DST in AZ) but lost three comiong back. Even with driving out in a car anb back in a tgruck pulling a trailer it took a whole day longer coming back. Since you gain the hour one way and lose it the other it is a two-hour swing.

HI,

I once drove from coast to coast non stop in 46 hours a couple of years back. My companion kept wanting to drive, but I would have none of that! It is routine for me to travel 1200-1500 miles in a 24 hour period from NY to Florida. In the wintertime there is additional motivation to get out of the bad weather, and we always time it so we hit the Florida welcome center on 95 before they close at 5PM or so. It is always the BEST tasting orange and grapefruit juice in the world at that moment. It marks the beginning of a nice long vacation to our winter retreat.

Quote: shirleyjester

HI,

I once drove from coast to coast non stop in 46 hours a couple of years back. My companion kept wanting to drive, but I would have none of that! It is routine for me to travel 1200-1500 miles in a 24 hour period from NY to Florida. In the wintertime there is additional motivation to get out of the bad weather, and we always time it so we hit the Florida welcome center on 95 before they close at 5PM or so. It is always the BEST tasting orange and grapefruit juice in the world at that moment. It marks the beginning of a nice long vacation to our winter retreat.

Quote: FleaStiff

I get mixed up on the names sometime but is that the casino in Reno that has been on the brink of being closed for having sufficient capital or not paying their taxes or something. If things are so bad for the casino, you can bet they are bad for the dealers too.

That's the Siena.

Siena made less than $12 million in gaming revenue last year, which would put it below Hooter's Las Vegas ($12m-$36m category).

Thu Jun 24, 5:30 am ET
Siena & OnSite Partnership Successful as Iconic Property Increases Business -

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