| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
abufletcher
Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 779
Location: Shikoku Japan (for now)
|
 Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:04 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| Keith, nice post with lots to think about. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Sweetsee
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 2302
Location: ) is everything
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Good one Keith. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Onigiri
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 103
Location: fly-over land
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
I went and saw the video and as an American who is studying to be a social studies teacher I bow my head in shame on behalf of all Americans and apologise to the rest of the world and in particular to the Austrailians. I suggest we all immediately go buy stock in any Austrailian Fallout shelter making company we might find. The video could also help explain the current political situation that the U.S. government now finds itself in. 
I was going to make some comment about racism but for the life of me can't remember what it was after watching that video. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
abufletcher
Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 779
Location: Shikoku Japan (for now)
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I read somewhere that in one study 50% of American high school students couldn't find Washington D.C. on a map of the US. Maybe we all need to quit our jobs here in Japan and go teach cross-cultural (and cultural geography) in the US! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
angrysoba
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 446
Location: Kansai, Japan
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| abufletcher wrote: |
| I read somewhere that in one study 50% of American high school students couldn't find Washington D.C. on a map of the US. Maybe we all need to quit our jobs here in Japan and go teach cross-cultural (and cultural geography) in the US! |
I don't trust those surveys very much. I've often found that they are produced to further a particular agenda and their results are often deliberately skewed to "prove" something they expected to find in the first place.
In one of them, students were shown geographical outlines of countries and were asked to identify them. Taken completely out of context alot of students failed to recognize states and countries which they apparently should have recognized. The academics who conducted this "research" went on to make a lot of smug conclusions about the idiocy of students in America today. The researchers found that a large proportion of students managed to recognize Italy "perhaps because of it's shape"!
Unbelievable! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| abufletcher wrote: |
Me: How many races are there?
Student: Three, black, white, yellow.
Me: Are the Japanese a race?
Student: Yes.
Me: So how many races ARE there?
Student: Three. |
They forgot Gingers.
There was a race special on the Daily Show a couple of days ago where they decided to accurately grade peoples ethnicity using paint samplers.
Apparently in fifty years everybody will be 'Soft Pumpkin'.
What's racism? Does no one have a dictionary?
Racism = Prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against someone of a different race. Based on the belief that different races posess characteristics or abilities specific to that race which marks them out as inferior or superior to another race or races.
But of course prejudice can arise directed at any socio-cultural or economic group. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Onigiri
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 103
Location: fly-over land
|
| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| angrysoba wrote: |
| abufletcher wrote: |
| I read somewhere that in one study 50% of American high school students couldn't find Washington D.C. on a map of the US. Maybe we all need to quit our jobs here in Japan and go teach cross-cultural (and cultural geography) in the US! |
I don't trust those surveys very much. I've often found that they are produced to further a particular agenda and their results are often deliberately skewed to "prove" something they expected to find in the first place.
In one of them, students were shown geographical outlines of countries and were asked to identify them. Taken completely out of context alot of students failed to recognize states and countries which they apparently should have recognized. The academics who conducted this "research" went on to make a lot of smug conclusions about the idiocy of students in America today. The researchers found that a large proportion of students managed to recognize Italy "perhaps because of it's shape"!
Unbelievable! |
I don't know about that. Several years ago Newsweek did a survey of its readers (and if you bother to subscribe to Newsweek you aren't scraping the bottom of the intellectual pool) with just the outlines of the borders of countries. They didn't choose really obscure countries to place. I don't remember the statistics but Americans did not do well. In fact, my own mother, who is a college educated school teacher (even though it is Art) labeled Germany as Sweden. When I pointed it out to her, she whailed, "But all the names have changed since I was in school!"
Let me hold my head in shame again and this time apologise in particular to the Germans and the Swedes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| JimDunlop2 wrote: |
This whole thread is ridiculous. Why should we spend all our time and effort pondering what racism means to us? Sounds like a grade 8 speech contest or essay topic.
When are we going to start concerning ourselves with ELIMINATING racism in all its forms, no matter how it affects us (or doesn't) or what it means to us (or doesn't).
Here are some resources to get you started.
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/
http://www.amnesty.org/
http://www.internationalanswer.org/ |
bump bump |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
karinb
Joined: 05 Feb 2006
Posts: 33
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 1:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
| position of power + prejudice based upon percieved race + discrimination = racism |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
angrysoba
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 446
Location: Kansai, Japan
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Captain Onigiri wrote: |
Several years ago Newsweek did a survey of its readers (and if you bother to subscribe to Newsweek you aren't scraping the bottom of the intellectual pool) |
I disagree. Newsweek is tabloid drivel masquerading as news. It's sensationalist crap. Who cares if people can recognize the outlines of countries? What does it mean to be able to do that?
If I can recognize Sierra Leone by its profile all that that means is that I have been staring at an atlas too long. I have no understanding of the political, geographic, economic and environmental situation of the country. The fact that people are being paid to conduct this "research" outrages me. They should be hauled into the street and shot as parasites on society. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Onigiri
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 103
Location: fly-over land
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Newsweek is tabloid drivel masquerading as news. It's sensationalist crap. |
All news magazines 3rd rate publications are far as journalism goes. Their major driving force is to maximize circulation. Therefore they'll never report anything that might cause cancellations in subscriptions. Not only Newsweek and Time are crap but also MacLean's and The Economist. At least unlike The Economist, I don't have to mortgage my house to afford a subscription to Newsweek.
I completely disagree that you can divorce geography from understanding a country. Knowing where a people or country are placed in the world is the first, fundamental step to understanding its political, geographic, economic and environmental situation. How can you understand the Poles if you don't know they've survived being sandwiched between the two powerhouses of Germany and Russia? How can that fact be real to you if you can't place those three places on a map? How can you understand the people of Ireland without knowing it's a smaller island blocked from the rest of Europe by the larger island of Great Britian? How can you understand Japan if you don't know it's a chain of islands off the coast of East Asia that was insulated from the periodic invasions that swept Asia during the Middle Ages? Since staring at a map is boring, most people think they should get to skip it but your understanding of the world will never be firmly grounded until you understand the geographical relationships between countries. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
captian onigiri wrote
| Quote: |
| All news magazines 3rd rate publications are far as journalism goes. Their major driving force is to maximize circulation. |
Not quite. If the content is too 'crap' for a news magazine, they often won't get circulation, and then the magazine might simply become a 'People' type rag  . News magazines do get critical letters from readers, but over balanced coverage and in depth reporting, qualities that 1st rate publications are concerned about. I hardly think a magazine would print letters criticizing some aspect of thier reporting (and usually print follow up aspects/comments) unless they thought the quality of the reporting was an important aspect.
| Quote: |
| Since staring at a map is boring, most people think they should get to skip it but your understanding of the world will never be firmly grounded until you understand the geographical relationships between countries. |
Exactly, but I usually don't see it shown here in Japan. I mean, I have students who don't realize where anything is beyond Asia is (which Yahoo seems to think doesn't include Japan). Never mind trying to get into the politics of a place  . |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Onigiri
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 103
Location: fly-over land
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mmm... I reckon that's true in its own way. But I don't think investigative reporting is what it used to be 15 years ago. I think it is especially true for television media but it also has affected print media as well. You just don't see the same quality and depth of reporting. I think mostly because the corporations that own the media don't have as much tolorance with controversy and the news media doesn't have the budgets they used to. They also don't report the news for the news. The news is now catered to people's interest. If the polls show the public isn't concerned with global warming then the media doesn't report as much on it. If the public doesn't show an interest in the Rwandan Genocide in the first couple of reports then the media will give it mimium coverage. That isn't what journalism is supposed to be about. That's why I think most news magazines are crap. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
angrysoba
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 446
Location: Kansai, Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| Captain Onigiri wrote: |
In one of them, students were shown geographical outlines of countries and were asked to identify them. Taken completely out of context alot of students failed to recognize states and countries which they apparently should have recognized. The academics who conducted this "research" went on to make a lot of smug conclusions about the idiocy of students in America today. The researchers found that a large proportion of students managed to recognize Italy "perhaps because of it's shape"!
Unbelievable! |
I don't know about that. Several years ago Newsweek did a survey of its readers (and if you bother to subscribe to Newsweek you aren't scraping the bottom of the intellectual pool) with just the outlines of the borders of countries. They didn't choose really obscure countries to place. I don't remember the statistics but Americans did not do well. In fact, my own mother, who is a college educated school teacher (even though it is Art) labeled Germany as Sweden. When I pointed it out to her, she whailed, "But all the names have changed since I was in school!"
Let me hold my head in shame again and this time apologise in particular to the Germans and the Swedes. |
[/quote]The point I was making was that the outlines of the borders of countries does not tell anyone anything about the country itself. I agree that you cannot divorce an understanding of a country from an understanding of its geographical location.
You said:
| Quote: |
| I completely disagree that you can divorce geography from understanding a country. Knowing where a people or country are placed in the world is the first, fundamental step to understanding its political, geographic, economic and environmental situation. How can you understand the Poles if you don't know they've survived being sandwiched between the two powerhouses of Germany and Russia? How can that fact be real to you if you can't place those three places on a map? How can you understand the people of Ireland without knowing it's a smaller island blocked from the rest of Europe by the larger island of Great Britian? How can you understand Japan if you don't know it's a chain of islands off the coast of East Asia that was insulated from the periodic invasions that swept Asia during the Middle Ages? Since staring at a map is boring, most people think they should get to skip it but your understanding of the world will never be firmly grounded until you understand the geographical relationships between countries. |
The problem that I had with certain tests of "geographical understanding" was that the tests themselves were unfair and contained biases toward irrelevant information. Very rarely - if at all - will anybody have to look at such pictures of unlabelled countries completely taken out of context and be able to do something meaningful with the information. For a test to make sense it seems to require a reasonable motive for learning the information contained in that test. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Captain Onigiri
Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 103
Location: fly-over land
|
| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
I can see your point. Labeling un-named countries on a blank political map doesn't make a person the Great Buddha of Geography. However, it is a standard building block to greater understanding of Geography. To use an analogy, mastering scales is an evaluation tool the teacher uses to measure understanding music but does not make for an excellent piano concert. It is a necessary building block in skills that allow for a superb concert. There might be some confusion between the evaluation tool and the objectives of the lesson.
Labeling unmarked countries is a standard evaluation tool used by educators to measure understanding of geographical relationships. By making students label countries an educator measures whether the student understands that Canada is half way around the world from the Ukraine. As highly educated adults this information is second nature to us but at some point it was something we learned.
A student has to absorb and integrate a lot of information to label a blank country. Take Laos for example. That student has to know that Laos is an Asian country, know where Asia is on a map, know that it is in Southeast Asia, that it is a landlocked country, and have some understanding of its position in relation to its neighbours to position it correctly.
Only after we know where the Ukraine is can we go on and learn that it also has a Slavic culture and is a major producer of wheat. I think the kind of understanding you're speaking of occurs later on in the process. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
