Are US-Americans dumb?

[The Lurker Below]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...icans/2935909/

You've probably already heard about how 1 in 5 Americans can't find the U.S.A. on a map.

why? I teach Americans favorite subject to hate, so I know, but I'd still like to check my answer with others'.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I've taught for years at the college level and sold insurance in peoples homes.

All in all, I have met very few people who I thought were unintelligent. I suspect our melting pot of mutts is pretty smart overall, certainly no worse than human average.

However, the level of self chosen ignorance is staggering.

[Fragony]

Nah. Merkel couldn't even point out where Berlin is on a map.

[HoreTore]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...icans/2935909/

You've probably already heard about how 1 in 5 Americans can't find the U.S.A. on a map.

why? I teach Americans favorite subject to hate, so I know, but I'd still like to check my answer with others'.

This is basically the same as the situation in every other country except Finland.

I believe the cause is mostly due to media and politician's inability to properly read statistics.

[Kadagar_AV]

I think USAnians, by and large, trust others to do the thinking for them.

This, coupled with an absolutely rampant media climate and churches that aren't exactly bastions of enlightenment, of course have a sad impact on the society at large.

[Fragony]

I think USAnians, by and large, trust others to do the thinking for them.

This, coupled with an absolutely rampant media climate and churches that aren't exactly bastions of enlightenment, of course have a sad impact on the society at large.

Rampant media climate, Sweden was where you are from right. If you look at the list of top 50 of universities Sweden isn't even in it.

[HoreTore]

Rampant media climate, Sweden was where you are from right. If you look at the list of top 50 of universities Sweden isn't even in it.

Frags is wrong as he always is, Karolinska Institutet is number 42.

EDIT: And well above the top dutch uni, Leiden, which is at #64 by the way.

Not that any of this is relevant anyway, since it's a centralize/decentralize-thing.

[Andres]

Frags is wrong as he always is, Karolinska Institutet is number 42.

EDIT: And well above the top dutch uni, Leiden, which is at #64 by the way.

Not that any of this is relevant anyway, since it's a centralize/decentralize-thing.

I'm not sure if having one or several of your elite institutions in such a ranking is a good indication about the general education level of the population

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I think USAnians, by and large, trust others to do the thinking for them.

This, coupled with an absolutely rampant media climate and churches that aren't exactly bastions of enlightenment, of course have a sad impact on the society at large.

Actually, they don't trust others to do their thinking for them. Sadly, that doesn't always translate to attempting to do their own. In the gap lies ignorance and poor decision making -- of which the USA has no shortage whatsoever.

I concur with you as to the rampant media climate, but disagree with churches/enlightenment. There are so many faith groups in the USA that actively seek enlightenment as a means of coming closer to the deity and/or as a means of spiritual growth. The fundamentalists and literalists get a lot of press, but they are nowhere near a majority of the churched in this country and it is only those subsets that might be viewed as anti-enlightenment.

Unless you are defining anything other than Popperian rationalism as being unenlightened.

[Andres]

We Europeans like our stereotypes and cliches.

An American mentioning Popper should be locked up in a cage and put in a museum or a zoo, as a curiosity. You cannot possibly be a normal American.

[Montmorency]

Hyperspecialization?

E.g. Sherlock Holmes not knowing of the heliocentric model.

For this to be the case, it need not imply that most members of the hyperspecialized masses have very deep knowledge in any one conceivable area.

Zoom out far enough and I'm sure that a spectrogram of one individual's knowledge would look identical to everyone else's.

Shock or ridicule: the root of it is the perception that another or many others are ignorant of what seems to the one a very fundamental or trivial (i.e. "obvious") fact or concept, e.g. that every citizen of a given country should have familiarity with the geographies of at least their country at large.

Compulsory education: its basic purpose is to inculcate some facts and concepts that are deemed by society to be fundamental or trivial, along with tools of critical thinking and continual acquisition/absorption of new information. The problem is, there are just way too many fundamental or trivial things to learn: long-term retention is unreliable, cognition under-equipped, and life short and busy. And this is even sidestepping the problem of evaluation.

It is a truism to say that if one is reminded or made newly aware of something that they then consider or have considered to be fundamental or trivial, they will almost never find fault with others' ignorance of the same.

TLDR: All these reports on selected ignorances are pretty much just there to amuse you and to boost your self-satisfaction. What sort of vegan is a vegan who delights in the flavor of "vegetarian meat"?

[TinCow]

Most Americans are not dumb. The problem is that most dumb Americans are loud.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Most Americans are not dumb. The problem is that most dumb Americans are loud.

I said not dumb but ignorant.

Sadly, we are both correct.

[HoreTore]

I'm not sure if having one or several of your elite institutions in such a ranking is a good indication about the general education level of the population

It's not, I just felt like pointing out that Frags is dead wrong once again

[Fisherking]

Americans are ignorant, not dumb. You can fix ignorant.

Oh yeah?

You should try it some time. Anything that smacks of book learning or high culture is anathema to about 85% of the population and another 10% pretend that they know less than they do.

I would agree that it is ignorance and not stupidity but it is self imposed and they have strong opinions on it too.

Just think of RVG…

[Fragony]

RVG is Syrian..

[Fisherking]

I hate to tell you, but there is a great deal of what you speak of in the large suburban areas of the Pacific Northwest too, and the rest of the country to boot.

I don’t think you would have to go to far to find it in Eugene too.

[The Lurker Below]

So I'm thanking every response that apportions some measure of fault to ignorance. Ignorance in and of itself is not evil, it's just a matter of fact. I will forever be ignorant in the field of rocket science, and I'll never be ashamed of it. Our problem lies in the cause of the ignorance. I would argue that the cause is apathy. Most of us simply don't care. I have seen two reasons for the apathy.

first - I got mine and am set, don't care if you have yours or not, don't need to know.
second - the man is holding me down and I have no chance, so why should I care.

Most Americans are apathetic. Until we get hungry again we will have no reason not to be. You hungry people in the rest of the world can go ahead and fight over who will host the next success story (current American Dream).

edit - not capitalizing us in the title was purposeful. I suppose my play on us ignorance wasn't that amusing though. So no matter.

[The Lurker Below]

Well f me if somehow I managed to make Americans apathy an ideological issue. I sure didn't mean for that to happen.

It is pointless to discuss the causes for the poor Americans. We will not agree. Thread after thread after thread breaks down into this argument and nothing is proven from that, no minds are changed. Can't we just let it go at that?

[Montmorency]

Americans are complacent.

[Kadagar_AV]

Let's face some VERY simple facts here...

USAnians coming to Europe are generally seen as stupid and unsophisticated.
Europeans coming to the USA are generally seen as intelligent and sophisticated.

We can play the "blame shift" game all day long, but this kind of IS how it IS, no?

I'm sure many USAnians have empirical evidence of other situations, but cultural views are there for a reason.

[Montmorency]

I'm sure many USAnians have empirical evidence of other situations, but cultural views are there for a reason.

Er, you can't just make up "cultural views" on the spot...

[Kadagar_AV]

so just did.

But I have empirical evidence to support it!

[Lemur]

I have empirical evidence

FWIW, "empirical" is not a synonym for "anecdotal," which is clearly what you meant to say.

[Kadagar_AV]

FWIW, "empirical" is not a synonym for "anecdotal," which is clearly what you meant to say.

Empirical evidence (also empirical data, sense experience, empirical knowledge, or the a posteriori) is a source of knowledge acquired by means of observation or experimentation

No?

FWIW I honestly thought I used it right? If you want to you can educate me in PM and delete these last, not to derail :)

[TinCow]

Europeans coming to the USA are generally seen as intelligent and sophisticated.

That depends entirely on where they go. Anyone coming to NYC is generally seen as an idiot yokel by the locals, regardless of their nation of origin.

[Kadagar_AV]

That depends entirely on where they go. Anyone coming to NYC is generally seen as an idiot yokel by the locals, regardless of their nation of origin.

Including, of course, USA

Even a broken watch is right two times a day

[Strike For The South]

Most Americans are not dumb. The problem is that most dumb Americans are loud.

You rang?

[Fisherking]

Most Americans don't care what Europeans think. Delusions of superiority won't last too long after we default and drag your weak dependant economies with us.

Jingo-bells, jingo-bells, jingoism all the way…

[Montmorency]

How dare you not accept that Europeans are your intellectual superiors?

You must be a jingoist! You must think that America is superior to everyone else!