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SOOHWA101
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Location: Makin moves...trying to find 24pyung
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 Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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| SuperFly wrote: |
| jajdude wrote: |
| A couple of Americans I've met were embarrassed about their poor knowledge of geography. One guy was angry that he wasn't taught this stuff in school. He complained the there is just too much focus on the homeland, and a lot of cluelessness about other places. He was from Michigan. |
Tell your American friends to stop blaming the system for the responsibility they should have taken upon themselves to master the material that they should have when they were in school.
Blows me away when people blame everyone else but themselves for their lack of willpower to sit down on their asses and study.
Instead of blaming the system for their lack of willpower, why don't they get out a map of the world and learn it now? What the hell is stopping them? Maybe their bad memories from high school?
pppffft! |
I get a kick out of the self-righteous "intellects" on this sight that aim rhetoric toward America's deficit in geographic education. I agree it is poor, but we are taught to focus on subjects that are relevant.
I challenge any of you would-be "Carmen Sandiego" gurus to name all fifty states, and their capitols. America is huge with a large population, and besides the hotspots, what do non-Americans know about OUR geography. Maybe what you see and pick up in OUR movies, but the USA is the size of several Europes. Europeans know countries like Americans know states. Europeans know national leaders like we know Senators and Reps. Canadians know a bit because they are on the outside looking in.
Americans are sheltered for a reason, but as soon as we step outside of our box and take initiative to learn something about the world, we then get reamed for the lack of knowledge. But I assume that childlike behavior is to be expected from those with inferiority complexes. Anyone who has spent 10 minutes in a Psych class can nail that from a mile away. |
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4 months left
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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SOOHWA101 wrote
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| Americans are sheltered for a reason, but as soon as we step outside of our box and take initiative to learn something about the world, we then get reamed for the lack of knowledge. |
What is the reason they are sheltered??? |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| SOOHWA101 wrote: |
I get a kick out of the self-righteous "intellects" on this sight that aim rhetoric toward America's deficit in geographic education. I agree it is poor, but we are taught to focus on subjects that are relevant.
I challenge any of you would-be "Carmen Sandiego" gurus to name all fifty states, and their capitols. America is huge with a large population, and besides the hotspots, what do non-Americans know about OUR geography. Maybe what you see and pick up in OUR movies, but the USA is the size of several Europes. Europeans know countries like Americans know states. Europeans know national leaders like we know Senators and Reps. Canadians know a bit because they are on the outside looking in.
Americans are sheltered for a reason, but as soon as we step outside of our box and take initiative to learn something about the world, we then get reamed for the lack of knowledge. But I assume that childlike behavior is to be expected from those with inferiority complexes. Anyone who has spent 10 minutes in a Psych class can nail that from a mile away. |
Hey, didn't you ever watch Animaniacs (cartoon)? That state capital song was fricken addictive and because of it I can name almost all of them (Canadian) 
(for others, not SOOHWA101)
Anyways, maybe America just thinks other subjects are more important than geography, which isn't all that surprising. For Europeans, it's different because you can drive easily to many other countries and probably pick it up outside of school too. Most Americans can't. Just a need to know basis. Why is it that Chinese students can't write an English essay? Or Westerners can't even compare to the math skills of Asian students? Beating on America for something this small is not very helpful. |
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SuperFly
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Location: In the doghouse
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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| SOOHWA101 wrote: |
| SuperFly wrote: |
| jajdude wrote: |
| A couple of Americans I've met were embarrassed about their poor knowledge of geography. One guy was angry that he wasn't taught this stuff in school. He complained the there is just too much focus on the homeland, and a lot of cluelessness about other places. He was from Michigan. |
Tell your American friends to stop blaming the system for the responsibility they should have taken upon themselves to master the material that they should have when they were in school.
Blows me away when people blame everyone else but themselves for their lack of willpower to sit down on their asses and study.
Instead of blaming the system for their lack of willpower, why don't they get out a map of the world and learn it now? What the hell is stopping them? Maybe their bad memories from high school?
pppffft! |
I get a kick out of the self-righteous "intellects" on this sight that aim rhetoric toward America's deficit in geographic education. I agree it is poor, but we are taught to focus on subjects that are relevant. |
Don't know if you're aware that I'm American, and yes you got it right. We are taught to focus on relevant subjects. Someone who wants to be in the foreign service would have to know their geography quite well I'd imagine. What I was talking about was the way people like to blame their past/parents/enviornment for their current situation/life/lack of knowledge. That's pure b/s and if your post was directed to me, ok I guess I did kind of come off as an asshole. I think that if you can get on an airplane and go to Japan/Korea/Taiwan to teach English for a living, you could at least invest in a map and read. I rarely blast anyone on this site, as I'm sure most here would tell you.
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SOOHWA101
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Location: Makin moves...trying to find 24pyung
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| 4 months left wrote: |
SOOHWA101 wrote
| Quote: |
| Americans are sheltered for a reason, but as soon as we step outside of our box and take initiative to learn something about the world, we then get reamed for the lack of knowledge. |
What is the reason they are sheltered??? |
One very obvious and easy way to answer this question is this: Prior to 9/11, the only places that American citizens were attacked was outside our borders. We are taught that the world is scary place, and that we may not be given a fair shake. How true, huh? I could also argue this both ways and say this is a "self-fullfilling prophecy," but it makes it no less true. We also have a VERY high crime rate here, but we also do not have "Kangaroo Courts." You can have the best defense MONEY can but?
I could write an essay on why most Americans are scared of the world, hence not paying close attention to it. Self-absorbed? Maybe. Arrogant? Sometimes mistakebly. But all in all, sheltered none-the-less.
Aninamiacs? Wish I had heard of it. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Why is it that Chinese students can't write an English essay? |
Probably for the same reason I can't write a Chinese one.
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Or Westerners can't even compare to the math skills of Asian students? |
At my university (largest math faculty in the world) the top students were Russian, and then below them were the Chinese students. |
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SOOHWA101
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Location: Makin moves...trying to find 24pyung
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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| SuperFly wrote: |
| SOOHWA101 wrote: |
| SuperFly wrote: |
| jajdude wrote: |
| A couple of Americans I've met were embarrassed about their poor knowledge of geography. One guy was angry that he wasn't taught this stuff in school. He complained the there is just too much focus on the homeland, and a lot of cluelessness about other places. He was from Michigan. |
Tell your American friends to stop blaming the system for the responsibility they should have taken upon themselves to master the material that they should have when they were in school.
Blows me away when people blame everyone else but themselves for their lack of willpower to sit down on their asses and study.
Instead of blaming the system for their lack of willpower, why don't they get out a map of the world and learn it now? What the hell is stopping them? Maybe their bad memories from high school?
pppffft! |
I get a kick out of the self-righteous "intellects" on this sight that aim rhetoric toward America's deficit in geographic education. I agree it is poor, but we are taught to focus on subjects that are relevant. |
What I was talking about was the way people like to blame their past/parents/enviornment for their current situation/life/lack of knowledge. That's pure b/s and if your post was directed to me, ok I guess I did kind of come off as an *beep*. I think that if you can get on an airplane and go to Japan/Korea/Taiwan to teach English for a living, you could at least invest in a map and read. |
I agree whole heartedly (sp?). |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| ajgeddes wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Why is it that Chinese students can't write an English essay? |
Probably for the same reason I can't write a Chinese one.
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Or Westerners can't even compare to the math skills of Asian students? |
At my university (largest math faculty in the world) the top students were Russian, and then below them were the Chinese students. |
Fishing. This is unlike you, really
Just to make sure, Chinese students of English (high level too) can not write a good essay. They have been so focused on other things, they don't know how.
Second, Asian students generally top Western students. A few exceptions won't help that... |
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| Second, Asian students generally top Western students. A few exceptions won't help that... |
Well if Koreans were so bright why in the world are they less productive at work than most western companies. Until Koreans become more productive at work I can't really see how they can top most Western students. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:31 am Post subject: |
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| JZer, that makes no sense at all. Work productivity has nothing to do with academic performance. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:45 am Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Second, Asian students generally top Western students. A few exceptions won't help that... |
Well if Koreans were so bright why in the world are they less productive at work than most western companies. Until Koreans become more productive at work I can't really see how they can top most Western students. |
I was responding to an earlier post. I was saying, "Asian students generally top Western students in math." |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| SOOHWA101 wrote: |
| 4 months left wrote: |
SOOHWA101 wrote
| Quote: |
| Americans are sheltered for a reason, but as soon as we step outside of our box and take initiative to learn something about the world, we then get reamed for the lack of knowledge. |
What is the reason they are sheltered??? |
One very obvious and easy way to answer this question is this: Prior to 9/11, the only places that American citizens were attacked was outside our borders. We are taught that the world is scary place, and that we may not be given a fair shake. How true, huh? I could also argue this both ways and say this is a "self-fullfilling prophecy," but it makes it no less true. We also have a VERY high crime rate here, but we also do not have "Kangaroo Courts." You can have the best defense MONEY can but?
I could write an essay on why most Americans are scared of the world, hence not paying close attention to it. Self-absorbed? Maybe. Arrogant? Sometimes mistakebly. But all in all, sheltered none-the-less.
Aninamiacs? Wish I had heard of it. |
I disagree with your opinion. I was never taught that the world is scary. What subject did you learn that in?
America's crime rates aren't "VERY high", if you compare to other countries. For example, #24 in murder. Also, within the US, crime rates have steadily declined in all categories since 1990. Sure, it's more dangerous than some areas of the world, but far less than others.
In my opinion, the reason why Americans typically don't know about other countries has more to do with what SOOHWA101 said. Americans have this idea that their country is self-sufficient. To a degree, this is truer than it is for most countries. Many Americans consider their country and their language to be the only important ones, mostly in a matter-of-fact way, but also there are nationalistic flag-wavers, of course.
I know a whooole lot of Americans who have never left the country, except maybe to hop down to Jamaica or something. You can take 50 different vacations in America, probably more. So a lot of people are satisfied just staying where they are. Which brings up another point: Americans like convenience. It's not convenient to apply for a passport, fly in a plane somewhere for 20 hours, and then cavort around in a country where you can't speak the language and don't really understand anything. It's more efficient to go on a ski trip, or to a beach, or camping...
Two key cultural ideals in America are convenience and efficiency.
But you also see that international news is very unpopular in the US. So in all honestly, it has the most to do with other countries simply being irrelevant to the average person's life. People with kids, full-time jobs, daily commutes in a car, a home to take care of, and all these things simply lack motivation to better themselves. Education for the sake of itself is not generally respected in the US. I got laughed at all the time by people for telling them my main hobby was studying.
Q. |
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| Well if Koreans were so bright why in the world are they less productive at work than most western companies. Until Koreans become more productive at work I can't really see how they can top most Western students. |
Well Qinella, what is the point of education? I am sure that we can come up with many reasons but one of the top aims must be to produce productive workers. If countries were not trying to produce skilled and productive workers why would they spend so much money to educate students? If a country produces many students that score well on test but are not productive in a working environment, I can't see how we can classify them as topping western students. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:20 am Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Well Qinella, what is the point of education? |
Irrelevant again. If the claim is made that Asian students top Western students, it can be assumed that this means they perform better on tests.
The goals of education, and what the students go on to do after their formal education is complete, have nothing to do with that. |
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JZer
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:25 am Post subject: |
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| The goals of education, and what the students go on to do after their formal education is complete, have nothing to do with that. |
That is a joke. Maybe this is true from the perspective of academia but I doubt that governments contribute money to educate their citizens just so they will do well on test. Most governments give money because they want to have skilled and productive workers. Being able to do well on test and do nothing outside the classroom will lead to a less than adequate society. |
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