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dporter
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 10:57 am Post subject: |
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Remember the episode of King of the Hill when the guy from Canada asked Hank to 'name the Prime Minster of Canada.'
Hank replied, 'Why?'
Classic. |
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Bueongi
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 11:44 am Post subject: |
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| What do you think a "World According to Koreans" map would look like? |
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Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 11:46 am Post subject: |
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Geography (human geography) is not really concerned about naming capitals, it's about location, patterns and movements of people, access and allocation of resources etc ...
Knowing the names of capitals is more in the realm of political studies.
When people who don't know the name of a city and say, "Oh, I'm no good at geography," I cringe. |
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alphakennyone
Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Location: city heights
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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Very true, but naming countries and capitals is the only "Geography" a lot of us are exposed to in elementary or middle school. My university (and I think many, many others) didn't even have a course in Geography, although I find it to be an interesting field personally.
| Cheonmunka wrote: |
Geography (human geography) is not really concerned about naming capitals, it's about location, patterns and movements of people, access and allocation of resources etc ...
Knowing the names of capitals is more in the realm of political studies.
When people who don't know the name of a city and say, "Oh, I'm no good at geography," I cringe. |
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agoodmouse
Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Location: Anyang
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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| dporter wrote: |
Remember the episode of King of the Hill when the guy from Canada asked Hank to 'name the Prime Minster of Canada.'
Hank replied, 'Why?'
Classic. |
Thank you for my first laugh this morning  |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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dporter - excellent! 
Cheonmunka, alphakennyone - have to disagree with your narrow interpretations guys. Cheonmunka, you're right in that naming capitals is political geography, but it's still an important component of overall geography. Why is Seoul the largest city in Korea? A combination of many factors (physical, political, economic, military) all play a role and all are important in the general study.
That being said, alphakennyone, I think you need to look at ALL the classes you took in university and what they taught you in terms of geographic knowledge. I myself never took a geography course past freshman year of high school, yet I majored in Economics and History in university, and with a fellow ESL teacher here, came in fifth place in our university geography bee.
I'd have to say that the average person who doesn't know the largest economies in the world, the major world capitals/cities, some unique facts about areas in the world, etc... isn't paying attention to the world around them. There are so many basic things that people SHOULD know as long as they read a newspaper once in a while and watch something other than "King of the Hill."  "Why?" Classic! |
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DorkothyParker
Joined: 11 Apr 2009
Location: Jeju
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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I have to admit, a lot of Americans are sadly ethnocentric. This is an exaggeration, but none the less... ouch!
That said, I can't think of a single pragmatic reason why I should be concerned with geography. If there is something I need to know, I can study it when the time comes (or pay someone to know it for me).
General knowledge and learning is great, but my interests lie in science and media theory. Bully to you geography whizzes, but I don't tease you for not being able to recite a working definition of modern super string theory. Why diss on my ignorance regarding history and that map stuff which is apparently NOT geography? |
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nathanrutledge
Joined: 01 May 2008
Location: Marakesh
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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^---^
Because you're from Boise. |
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DorkothyParker
Joined: 11 Apr 2009
Location: Jeju
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, I'm not FROM anywhere. I grew up in a military family and traveled fairly extensively. My father retired and we settled the last place we lived, Idaho. I moved to Boise in late 2003 to attend Boise state and just graduated this month so I can FINALLY relocate. Thanks for playing, though.
Nonetheless, you missed my point which is that there is an infinite amount of information and knowledge to be had in the world. Understanding geography is no "better" than understanding quantum physics, existential philosophy, Russian literature, car mechanics... whatever an individual chooses to study. No need to mock their ignorance. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| DorkothyParker wrote: |
Actually, I'm not FROM anywhere. I grew up in a military family and traveled fairly extensively. My father retired and we settled the last place we lived, Idaho. I moved to Boise in late 2003 to attend Boise state and just graduated this month so I can FINALLY relocate. Thanks for playing, though.
Nonetheless, you missed my point which is that there is an infinite amount of information and knowledge to be had in the world. Understanding geography is no "better" than understanding quantum physics, existential philosophy, Russian literature, car mechanics... whatever an individual chooses to study. No need to mock their ignorance. |
It would be one thing if in America more people say excelled in mathematics or foreign languages in numbers then I would say the lack of knowledge when it comes to geography looks all right to me somewhat.
At any rate, since the US is a major superpower, it does help if the people
are more aware of other countries around the globe. Yes, there is an infinite amount of information and knowledge to learn, but I would say those who know about world geography somewhat tend to be intelligent, but you don't need to be very knowledgeable about that.
I mean if people in Finland were poor in geography, we could at least say they are at the top when it comes to math. I don't know if they're poor at geography. I doubt they are. With Koreans, I think they're not more knowledgeable than your average American, but, yet, they are scoring higher on math tests.
Anyway, the gap between the US and the world when it comes to geography is narrowing. Many states are emphasizing world geography. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| DorkothyParker wrote: |
Actually, I'm not FROM anywhere. I grew up in a military family and traveled fairly extensively. My father retired and we settled the last place we lived, Idaho. I moved to Boise in late 2003 to attend Boise state and just graduated this month so I can FINALLY relocate. Thanks for playing, though.
Nonetheless, you missed my point which is that there is an infinite amount of information and knowledge to be had in the world. Understanding geography is no "better" than understanding quantum physics, existential philosophy, Russian literature, car mechanics... whatever an individual chooses to study. No need to mock their ignorance. |
It would be one thing if in America more people say excelled in mathematics or foreign languages in numbers then I would say the lack of knowledge when it comes to geography looks all right to me somewhat.
At any rate, since the US is a major superpower, it does help if the people |
DP is talking about individuals, not countries as a whole. I know very little about geography, and I don't care.
The latest unit in our English conversation textbook I have to use to teach was based around geography. God, that was tough! Dragging conversation out of the students is hard at the best of times, but trying to force conversation about stuff no one knows or cares about? Geez! Ten minutes on Wikipedia made me the most informed person, by far, in every class. And I'll forget it all by the time the exam is finished. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| dporter wrote: |
Remember the episode of King of the Hill when the guy from Canada asked Hank to 'name the Prime Minster of Canada.'
Hank replied, 'Why?'
Classic. |
Don't know that episode, haven't seen the show in a very long time. But many years ago, there was a great episode where an Asian family moved in next door.
Hank and his usual buddies are standing around drinking beer when the Asian guy comes over to say hello.
Hank: "So are you Chinese or are you Japanese?"
Asian Guy: "Actually I'm from Laos. It's a small country in southeast Asia."
(Hank and buddies just look at each other with blank expressions.)
Hank: "So, are you Chinese or are you Japanese?" |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| Draz wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| DorkothyParker wrote: |
Actually, I'm not FROM anywhere. I grew up in a military family and traveled fairly extensively. My father retired and we settled the last place we lived, Idaho. I moved to Boise in late 2003 to attend Boise state and just graduated this month so I can FINALLY relocate. Thanks for playing, though.
Nonetheless, you missed my point which is that there is an infinite amount of information and knowledge to be had in the world. Understanding geography is no "better" than understanding quantum physics, existential philosophy, Russian literature, car mechanics... whatever an individual chooses to study. No need to mock their ignorance. |
It would be one thing if in America more people say excelled in mathematics or foreign languages in numbers then I would say the lack of knowledge when it comes to geography looks all right to me somewhat.
At any rate, since the US is a major superpower, it does help if the people |
DP is talking about individuals, not countries as a whole. I know very little about geography, and I don't care.
The latest unit in our English conversation textbook I have to use to teach was based around geography. God, that was tough! Dragging conversation out of the students is hard at the best of times, but trying to force conversation about stuff no one knows or cares about? Geez! Ten minutes on Wikipedia made me the most informed person, by far, in every class. And I'll forget it all by the time the exam is finished. |
I may be biased since I taught geography, but I think this thread was focused on the average person in a country and the aggregate knowledge of the populace when it comes to things like history and world geography. Not long ago, I read of a NFL player being surprised that people speak English in England. At least, it would be nice to know things about certain key countries from every continent. At least, there should be a focus on key countries that affect others. There are too many countries to learn about. Many cultures relate to each other somewhat.
You don't need to teach the kids way too many things, just focus on key concepts, geographical areas and countries, especially those in the Western Hemisphere. |
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Bueongi
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:57 am Post subject: |
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| A lot of people are mentioning examples of ignorance shown by Americans on this topic, but you find idiots in every country. I recently saw some Korean comedy program where they were quizzing celebrities on the capitols of countries. When they were asked to name the capitol of Greece, one man answered, "Uh... Greece, I guess." Then for the capitol of Germany he said, "Manhattan. Wait, no! Vancouver." |
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Panda
Joined: 25 Oct 2008
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