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[scriver]

Personally I have huge blank spots in my geography knowledge regarding the Balkan, Central Asia, South-East/Pacific Asia, The Entirety of non-Mediterranean Africa, and northernmost South America+Middle America. I could place any country of those regions to those regions, but not any closer than that (except the most famous examples of course). I also suck at non-country-placement geography in general and could not tell you where most of my own nation's cities and towns and lakes and rivers are, let alone those of other countries.

I also think Korea connects to Japan's southern edge rather than the north, and that Japan is a lot more to the south than it is.

[IcyTea31]

In Finland, geography in schools is less about political maps and more about nature stuff like climate and vegetation regions. Too bad some of it is about a hundred years outdated (literally, we once used a map from 1889, read as a current and not as a historical map). It's not a trivia game, but even the big picture it paints isn't that useful. The actually useful stuff was taught in biology and history classes.

[sjm9876]

Neo, you said:

Besides the whole "Geography education is so terrible in the US" is kind of more... manufactured complaint given that other countries teach Geography more like it was a trivia game. Just memorize the Continents, Countries, and Capitals and you are set.

NJW provided a counter example which you dismissed in a way I felt was out of hand, and I was supporting his counter example.

The criticism leveraged against Americans was unmentioned and unaddressed, if favour of the criticism leveraged by you against (admittedly unspecified) other countries.


Anyway, to abandon that line, and contribute more the original discussion, I can place most countries roughly as a Brit, however that's more due to personal interest, because it's handy for understanding global politics.

[hector13]

That isn't the criticism leveraged against Americans.

The Criticism is that they don't know the trivia. Not that they don't know what an archipelago is.

That was what NJW was saying, even in England (also Scotland, in my own experience) they don't teach "this is where Djibouti is" they teach how to read maps and various things about erosion, and shit like that.

Ninja'd but fack it.

A degree of my geographical trivia knowledge comes from video games.

[overseer05-15]

That isn't the criticism leveraged against Americans.

The Criticism is that they don't know the trivia. Not that they don't know what an archipelago is.

That was what NJW was saying, even in England (also Scotland, in my own experience) they don't teach "this is where Djibouti is" they teach how to read maps and various things about erosion, and shit like that.

A degree of my geographical trivia knowledge comes from video games.

As an american one of the few countries I can actually place is, in fact, Djibouti. East Africa, if anyone cares.

Actually, in America, we had to learn the location of every country so we could label a world map. So yes, we do learn them, but because they're only asked once, we forget instantly.

[IcyTea31]

they teach how to read maps

This was PE class for me. Orienteering was and is fun, though the rules say you can't go alone into the woods, and almost every time I ended up with someone particularly lazy as my partner.

[Tawa]

Geography education in the U.S. is definitely terrible. I knew someone in high school who thought Africa was a country, and another who didn't know that the UK is an island across from France. U.S. states receive more focus than foreign countries, but even that is kind of vague. As far as I can remember the closest we ever got to labeling a world map was filling out a map of South America for Spanish class.

I'm mostly only good with geography because I play way too many Paradox games and have spent considerable amounts of time staring at modern maps for fun as a result.

The Entirety of non-Mediterranean Africa

To be fair, modern African political boundaries look like a map of the midwestern U.S. had a baby with an internal political map of the Holy Roman Empire because 19-century colonizers didn't pay any attention to cultural boundaries.

[Neonivek]

I knew someone in high school who thought Africa was a country

What an idiot! No wait... it is a Country as well...

 

and another who didn't know that the UK is an island across from France.

What a HUUUUGE IDIOT!!!... No wait that isn't true.

[Teneb]

Geography curriculum around here for schools is stuff like how the world was formed, in very simple geological terms, continental drift, erosion, drainage basins and later it shifts to human geography. National geography is covered early on and tends to teach about what state is each, the capitals, and the biomes encountered there, but, biome part excepted, it tends to be pretty brief stuff.

I knew someone in high school who thought Africa was a country

What an idiot! No wait... it is a Country as well...

 

and another who didn't know that the UK is an island across from France.

What a HUUUUGE IDIOT!!!... No wait that isn't true.

Neo, unless you mean something like the Central African Republic, or perhaps South Africa, which kind of have more to their names than just "Africa", I don't see why the objection to Tawa pointing out someone was ignorant to that extent. And the UK has its bulk on a single island.

So uh, either elaborate or chill.

[Neonivek]

Naw I was just having a laugh because calling someone an idiot for something that is easily remedied while you do the same is deliciously ironic.

And the UK has its bulk on a single island.

You know, close enough I guess.

It is in a place. It is also across from Belgium and the Netherlands.

[overseer05-15]

Naw I was just having a laugh because calling someone an idiot for something that is easily remedied while you do the same is deliciously ironic.

And the UK has its bulk on a single island.

You know, close enough I guess.

It is in a place. It is also across from Belgium and the Netherlands.

Neo, for future reference, such ironic remarks are difficult to discern over the interwebs.

[CABL]

I studied ground layers/soils/minerals in 6th grade, different countries in 7th, and Russian geography in 8th and 9th grades (the 8th grade focused on terrain/cities/physical stuff, while the 9th grade focused on the economical/in-depth geological stuff). I'm okay at Eurasian geography, but I don't know USA geography well at all (I know about Appalachian mountains, though).

[Neonivek]

It is just, I guess... that I feel that judging US Geography education based on how well they know the capitals and locations of countries.

Is a lot like judging their English lessons based on their use of cursive. Well maybe not that much (Seriously, phase out cursive already!). Perhaps more like whether or not someone memorized the multiplication table, regardless of their actual math ability.

It feels a lot like a "Lets feel better about ourselves and our own failing education system, by making fun of silly ignorant Americans based on trivial standards"

Not that the US doesn't have issues with its own education system, but lets face it... This is a deflection at best.

[smjjames]

Turkey deserves it's own WTF entry what with the heights of paranoia it's getting to.

[IcyTea31]

These days, it does not take much to be labelled a Gülenist: A one-dollar bill at home -- considered evidence of terror crimes by the state

Apparently foreign money is illegal as well.