(Lack of) General knowledge in America

[Pirates]

I have never been to America ever but everyone in my country (and I know that many others do it too) makes jokes about how everyday Americans are generally awful at general knowledge. Things like geography, history, religion and even things about the wars their country has been a part of.

I am bringing this up because I watched this hilarious video.
[video=youtube;fJuNgBkloFE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE&feature=related[/video]

Of course some people would be just stupid but this is pushing it I think.

Who the hell doesnt know how many sides a triangle has?
How can someone not know where KFC came from?
Starwars is a true story?

I am well aware that some of the best and smartest people are homegrown americans but there is seriously something wrong with how americans are being taught IMO.
Maybe most of you are not taught about these things unless you choose to take them as specific classes in school, which is understandable.
To me and my country, we all learnt these things in other classes. I didnt need to take history to know about the wars and I have never taken geography yet I can easily answer all these questions.
you would be hard pressed to get the results you have in that video from us.

So, what is it? What do you think is the reason for this?
Do you think it is a problem? Are americans just poorly represented?
I seriously dont know the answer but I am a little worried at how some americans think due to this lack of knowledge.

 

[State]

Ask in your country how many Americans they've asked about their own things. Everyone? I doubt so.

 

[Solar]

not to mention they smell funny too

 

[Tenyas]

:B

I bet if I walked into Australia and just started asking people random facts about the world, I'd get pretty much the same reaction out of a lot of them and maybe some who know what's going on. It's not a matter of education but, editing out the bits where there are people who do remember stuff they learned around six to sixteen years ago and leaving in the parts where you have some old granny confused out of her mind because it's trivial knowledge.

When it comes to U.S. citizens and the world, we're not too bright. But, I don't think your Joe Average in Europe who works a 6 to 5 job would memorize all the countries in some funky alliance that has nothing to do with his life either.

 

[Delsan]

[video=youtube;lj3iNxZ8Dww]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

She explains it fully and thoughtfully.

 

[Pirates]

:B

I bet if I walked into Australia and just started asking people random facts about the world, I'd get pretty much the same reaction out of a lot of them and maybe some who know what's going on. It's not a matter of education but, editing out the bits where there are people who do remember stuff they learned around six to sixteen years ago and leaving in the parts where you have some old granny confused out of her mind because it's trivial knowledge.

When it comes to U.S. citizens and the world, we're not too bright. But, I don't think your Joe Average in Europe who works a 6 to 5 job would memorize all the countries in some funky alliance that has nothing to do with his life either.

Seriously, I dont ever see this happening in my country.
Ask anyone who is sane and they can tell you how many sides a triangle has.
These are either incredibly smart lunatics who can fit into society acting like a regular person, or they are a regular person who is stupid.

These people arent saying "I dont know the answer to this question" often (some are. If you want, you can ignore them). They are saying what they think is true.

 

[Maxyli138]

I think it depends on where you live and the school system in your area. Some kids are taught certain things while in another state it could be ignored because that area doesn't find it important. There are also kids who drop out of school or can't afford a better education. There is also a seperation of church and state in America, so religion cant be talked about in public schools. But it's true that many Americans are not as knowledgable as they should be.

 

[Taylor]

"Iran because I think there's a revolution going on pretty soon."


We finally have someone who can predict these things!

 

[Cheaken]

To answer you question, I really don't thinks it's a problem. I know alot of really smart people. I also know some dumb people. But I think the smart people out number the dumb at least where I live. I only know a few hundred people out of 300 million people in the country so I can't really say about the entire country but alot of the people in Southern Lancaster County are smart. Maybe a reason for the lack of knowlege is reason is lack of good education, IDK.

 

[Delsan]

I can't believe that I didn't guess the united states when that guy asked "name countries that begin with a U". But instead I first thought of the Ukraine, so at least I'm still right.

 

[Silverslide]

Every where on the earth you go, you will find an idiot. Don't generalize with americans.

 

[Ophan]

[video=youtube;w_mkwB9ayK4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mkwB9ayK4[/video]

[video=youtube;ONCrE4IoSsY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONCrE4IoSsY[/video]

all videos present random ppl clueless to various questions...some a little bit more trivial, but they cant be judged as a nation. If you believe it to be, then are you the viewer smart yourself?

 

[Taylor]

Anyway, this video does a great job of making Americans look bad, but keep in mind that they're only taking the worst possible responses. I could personally answer all of those questions, for example.

General stupidity is not specific to America; it's worldwide phenomena that the United States seems to be seen as leading for whatever reason.

 

[Taylor]

sorry i think i accidentally locked this '3'

 

[1+1=FISHXD]

xD i could answer most of all the questions here plain common knowledge questions but then again im not really fully american im hispanic xD i swear that just made me laugh so hard how many sides does a traingle have???seriously its in the word tri meaning 3 xD some people are just straight out stupid

 

[Pinwheel]

a triangle
four sides

yeaaaah, I'm gonna go ahead and say that was fake as a guess.

 

[Mistearea]

Ugh. Sometimes I wonder about Americans... And sure, education systems vary, but most of those were questions about things taught in all of the schools I've been to. And trust me. I've been to a lot of schools. I'm just kinda happy that it was aimed at America in general. Thank whichever deity you want that it wasn't aimed at the America South. People would be laughing too hard to type.

 

[Professor Ven]

Some people make me wonder why the sky is blue and not yellow or red 8(

And why the grass isn't radioactive and spewing cancer everywhere.


J00r all pokey'n at innocent people who were accosted by a random person with a video camera.

Puh-lease.

 

[Solar]

not to mention they smell funny too

also: fat

 

[State]

Who is Fidel Castro?
-A singer?