General Knowledge?

Question

Not just I but a lot of my friends who travel extensively to the US feel that most Americans have very limited general knowledge and some of the statements they make just amazes us. We have even noticed most dont even know the Capital city of their own Country.
You ask an average American as to what is the capital of India - 99 out of 100 ( leaving aside the Indians who have settled down in the US ) will have no idea ( Its New Delhi - by the way ). Why dont the schools emphasise on General Knowledge as a serious part of the studies in school. It is only a few who travel a lot come out with some answers but look dazed when you ask them some questions which even a child in India could answer.
This question is not meant to offend anyone but just out of curiosity. From what I have noticed most Americans live in a "closed" concept where they just know about their own surroundings and the moment you start discussing other things - they are stumped. Why is this so?

Answer 1

I concur, to a certain extent, that many Americans are not as well educated as they could be.

I think that part of the problem is just plain laziness. I am an American, so I am not proud of this idea...but I think that, to some degree, it has the ring of truth.

But you know what- it's not just Americans. 70 percent of the people on this planet earth are illiterate. Did you know that?

Although there are some Americans who are not so well educated, some of us are. It's a matter of choice. Most people have intelligent brains, but when it comes to putting them to good use, we falter.

I think that, peradventure, education systems elsewhere may have superior qualities when contrasted with America's system. Our standards could be loftier.

Personally, I am primarily self-educated. I do not have a college degree (albeit, I have taken over a year of college courses in the past), but I love education, learning, and knowledge.

There are solutions. We Americans just need to stop being lazy, and place higher standards of excellence for ourselves.

One aspect that I think it neglected in our educational system is Geography. As you very well articulated in your example of the capital of India, many Americans are not erudite in terms of geographical matters- and I think that we should be.

Answer 2

I am an educator in the state in CA. To tell you the truth I did not recall from the top of my head the answer to your question. Take in concideration the following:
*The educational system in the United Stated is ruled by the No Child Left Behynd Act. Meaning that each state determines their own stantdars as long as they are complying with the regulations of the NCLB. In other words there are limitations to what you are allowed to teach. More over, since each state measures the difficulty of their standards, standards among stated differ. Meaning that what you are asked to learn in CA may not be what you are asked to learn in TX. Consequently, you can see that education has not been standadrized nation wide, leaving a lot of descrepancies. On top of that, at the elementary school level and intermediate level, stadardized test drive the education. The teste have a strict enphasis in Language Arts and Math only. Which does not allow much room and time to teach other subjects.

*Also take in consideration that schools try to prepare children to solve real life problems. To be breath winners. And knowing the capital of a country would not allow them to have a better job. Children need to know life skills and they need to learn how to be deep thinkers. General information only requires you to have a great memory but in does not make you analyze in depth.

*Also take in concideration, nobody can know everything about general education. For example do you know all the names of the strings of a guitar, do you know how to play a C mayor on a piano, do you know what in Central America is concider The Second Conquest. I hope you get my point. It is imposible to know everything and I'm sure that you may not know what other people know. Even if they are very ignoral. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is, according to Bloom's Taxonomy recalling informational facts means that you are using a level one thinking, while when you analyze, you are using your critical thinking. Thinking Level 6 in Bloom's.

*Lastly, eventhough informational knowledge is important for some, for some others what is important is just to be happy and understand their purpose in life.

P.S. As you can see my spelling is not great. But I don't think that would make me ignorant because in a conversation I would sound like I spell. By the way my primary language is not English, I learned it when I was 15. I am a teacher and I do use a dictionary. You see, I have problems recalling some things but I am try to be profound and intellectual.

Answer 3

If you don't like the concept of our Country, then why do you come here? Because you like our "American" money, right? Don't criticize for things that you do not know anything about, maybe you are just around "dumb people" There are plenty of people in our Country who are extremely knowledgeable about most everything in the World, I happen to be one of those people. I could probably teach you some things about your own Country, wherever that may be. If you don't like it, don't come here, and if you continue to come here, then be quiet. We are not discriminating against you by not allowing you and your friends to enter our Country, so don't you discriminate against those of us who are not well educated. Thank you for your very ignorant comment.

Answer 4

Most people think it's easier that way. They decide to leave foreign affairs to politicians. Anyone else see a problem with this?