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Are Europeans more well versed with world geography than Americans? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 4 days ago by LtDan@lemmy.zip to c/europe@feddit.org
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I've seen multiple videos equivalent of Americans pointing where (country) is on the map, and there was an instance where the host asked the woman where the continent Africa is located (points to Asia) like WTF? That's not even close at all.

I know there's bias towards those types of videos since there are accusations of the host "handpicking" select strangers framing them as if they are representative of the US. But the truth is that their education system isn't good as it lacks funding.

When you put it into perspective: how many Europeans can correctly locate & name countries adjacent to them within their own continent and globally? Is the education system within the EU that good or effective at teaching kids that subject?

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[โ€“] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I mean whatever geography is local to you, assuming you aren't in America.

[โ€“] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Alright. Well for me, there's no question that (going to the OP) Euros have a better grasp of World geography than Americans do, for various good reasons already stated.

On top of that, I see a long thread of what is essentially mental illness running through American history, leading its citizens to believe that they're special and/or live in a special land, promoting a sort of intentional ignorance about the world around them. Geography is part of that, but it's much more, such as a cultural and historical isolation.

Indeed, as Ken Burns said (paraphrasing) "Americans are shockingly ignorant of their own history and narrative." It is an embarrassing truth that, the longer I live, the more relentlessly confirmed and depressing it is to me.

It's all very nauseating to me, frankly, especially seeing as what it led to in the end. Anyway, I'll be withdrawing myself from this convo at this point. Good luck to you.