American Idol star Kellie Pickler appeared on celebrity version of the the U.S. television show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and was asked the question, "Budapest is the capital of what European country?" Pickler then stated, "I thought Europe was a country" and proceeded to pronounce that she was sure that French was spoken there. Her final answer? You'll just need to follow the link to this YouTube video. Share your thoughts below...
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This should, but unfortunately doesn’t, surprise me. Being european, I meet so many (otherwise intelligent and great) people from the US who doesn’t seem to have a clue about geography from outside their own continent. Maybe the geography education in the US is too centered towards north american issues? I’m not one to know, but there seems to be room for improvement. Part of the explanation might be that americans have a continent more or less to themselves, whereas europeans are used to relate to foreigners (and also to being a foreigner when they go somewhere) on a more steady basis. My guess is that when you have the north american continent, being more or less self-sufficient with every resource necessary for the upkeep of society, you don’t really “need” outsiders/foreigners the same way, and therefore their importance is downplayed. This is probably reflected in the geographical knowledge of americans, even if it is good or bad. But hey, europeans aren’t that smart either, just having different experiences!
I would think the problem in not the way we teach the Geography in US, I would not say it is centered on North America only. There are lot of good Geography curses and classes in many Universities. However I cannot say the same thing about schools, the last time in school you can be offered the Geography is a 5th grade, this is why our 5th graders have a batter chance to name the capital of Hungry then average American or Contestant in American Idol for that matter. There is nothing wrong with way we teach Geography in American collages, the problem is with attitude toward Geography in this country. To change the attitude for this exciting and wonderful subject is possible only by helping our future generation to understand the importance of Geography from early age, so we wouldn’t have to read similar articles in a future. Geography rules!!!!!!
I stopped at a truck stop in Kansas last year, while visiting the US from my home in New Zealand.
The girl took the money on my Mastercard, with an Air NZ logo on it. She said “I’ll get to Europe one day!!!”
It demonstrated that the majority of Americans really don’t care about places outside their borders, and therefore don’t try to find out, whether it’s taught in schools or not.
How many Americans own a passport?….not many.
Geography really is skimmed over in the U.S.public schools and no one forces it you to take it in the universities. I have seventeen plus years of formal education and never took geography as far as I can remember. Finally, at 46 I decided that this was embarrassing and no longer excusable just because the schools failed me so I taught myself. I’m afraid that I am really an oddball in this area unfortunately. The internet was the best tool to learn for me with it’s online quizzes and information readily available. Plus, I’m really proud not to have to dodge naming those “flyover” states anymore.
To Gene Katzman!
Hungry as a country does not exist.It is called HUNGARY!If you would all start with pronance and write down it properly that would be helpful.Thanks
If you would all start with pronance? Wow.
I think it really comes down to a mixture of laziness and apathy- people don’t have the motivation to learn or the interest. This is definitely not a defense, though, because I winced when I read this article. Americans- and people everywhere- should really work a little harder to learn about their world, whether that be geography, history, or literature. The knowledge is well worth it.
Well, here is a very young lady who has a good start on learning more than just North America. An unbeleivable young lady of two.
http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=4023
On the basis of one of the previous comments (Katzman) it is pretty clear that the teaching (or learning) of English is also very poor. I wasn’t aware that geography has curses and that you can learn Geography from collages. It also helps if you don’t think about take-aways when writing articles because when you are Hungry you might not be able to tell the difference between batter and something that is better.
This is the last thing The United States needs. I am American and I know geography to a tee. As well, I am educated, well read, well traveled, and The misconception that Americans are idiots kills me. There are uneducated and ignorant people in the majority of countries ive visited…actually the more I think about it, i do know quite a bit of ignorant people. Oh well, i guess the stereotype is (mostly) true. Just remember, we are not all like this.
Folks, Kellie Pickler has made a career out of appearing to be very pretty and impossibly dense. It is her “schtick.” She in no way represents American education. Please regard her as a minor talent of no great ability who has made good.
John
I taught geography in a Minnesota high school to 8th graders for 31 years and found them very knowledgeable. They learned about most of the major countries but we did spend more time on North America than any other continent. Some of these students participated in “Knowledge Bowl” and “Geography Bee.? Now I ask questions to my 8 grandchildren all the time and they take some of my 75 geography quizzes on Sploofus,
on the computer.
I am South American and have visited the U.S. many times. Almost every time I’ve run into someone that does not know that my country is located in the same continent than the U.S.!
I job relates me to many people from the U.S. and I know that there is a vast number of people that are well-educated, but, the amount of people in the U.S. that does not know basic things like knowing where Argentina or Peru is, or not knowing that Europe is a continent is amazing. For starters, why do most Americans call the United States “America” ? America is a continent, not a country.
The problem is that Geography really taught in the U.S. It is not considered important and is ignored. My high school doesn’t even have a Geography class anymore. Fortunately, they still had it my Freshman year, so I got to take it, but many of my classmates didn’t.
And (12)Leslie, I know that in most paises hispanohablantes, they only acknowledge 5 continents, but in the U.S., we acknowledge 7. So, by our standards, we are not part of the same continent as your country.
Two comments:
1. Mike, I love your blog and the links. I’ve learned a lot! But if you have any influence at all over the advertisements, please deep-six that Armani underwear ad. It’s soft-core pornography and I was embarassed to be reading your article today because of the prominent display of a man’s underwear-clad private parts. I was very glad none of my children came up behind me then. Please don’t make me afraid to read your (G-rated)articles because of the (x-rated) ads that come along with them!
2. Leslie, please don’t be offended by our calling our country “America.” The entire name is quite a mouthful, and so we shorten it. We are not trying to claim that we embody the entire two continents. What else would you have us call ourselves? The United States? Of course we do, but even that’s not unique; that’s also the first part of Mexico’s name. We are probably the only country in the world that doesn’t have a unique name. And as a people, we’re called “Americans”–only by context does one distinguish between us and everybody else that lives on these two continents. Please don’t be resentful–just be thankful that you don’t have a national identity problem like we have!
she is sooooo stupid!
Dr Hans said: “I wasn’t aware that geography has curses and that you can learn Geography from collages.”
Oh, yes. My German teacher has a collage of German cultural and historical icons in her room, and one of the curses is that people squint at you funny when you know the historical name of Kaliningrad.
…Who’s read “Non Campus Mentis”?
Kellie Pickler is a poor representation of the intelligence of Americans. While it is true that our public school system, on the whole, needs help, I would imagine that the majority of Americans can name the capital of Hungary. Ignorance abounds in most every country, for that matter. How many Romanians can name the capital of Canada off the top of their heads? Finally, Kellie Pickler trades off of her perceived stupidity. She’s been doing it since her “Idol” days. She thinks its cute, but it isn’t.
This comment is toward tom from norway. With me being a student from high school in the United States I can personally say that on some things you are rigght and some wrong. From were I live we do learn about the geography and customs from the area you live in but as I can say. Most of us from here never actually leave the united states from it being isolated from the other continants and we don’t have money too. Also if we do leave it is beacuse they are in the military, or after years of high school they finally get the money to travel and we have forgoten the geography of the destination we are headed to (we are only human). One more thing, your right, we do have the nessesities here and we underlook others. I know it is wrong but we don’t just do it on porpuse, many of us haven’t and will never leave the United States to go view, experience, and give credit to other places. It is not like we can just go drive over the ocean.
I am afraid the problem is much more pervasive than expressed so far. Not only is Geography no longer taught as a course in secondary education but it is being eliminated from the college curriculum as well. Competition for funding has caused many disciplines to play-cut throat politics to the demise of Geography. The University of Chicago, once one of the foundation stones of higher geography advancements has been gone for several decades now. Many social science disciplines, such as History, Political Science, International Relations, and Language courses maintain that Geography can be taught in their classroom by giving “map quizzes.” It is sad that most PhDs think that Geography is not much beyond naming state capitals and identifying countries on a blank outline map, a fourth grade level achievement. Even one of the most significant contribution to modern geography — Geographic Information Systems — has found its way into Geology or other departments who command outside money. Our fate may lie in a quote from Ambrose Bierce — “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” In fact, our profound lack of geographic knowledge may lie at the heart of why we have become the most bellicose nation on the planet these last seven decades.
– former college Geography instructor
Personally, I think that most Americans would be able to guess that Budapest was the capital of some country in Central Europe, if not Hungary, assuming that they didn’t already know it. Ms. Pickler is just a moron.
Her comment isn’t half as horrendous as the comments it has sparked. How disgusting to see so many people attack her. She is from a small town and I can tell you from personal experience that small town schools often do not have the resources of the bigger cities. And you are surprised that she is not well-educated? Also, it is probably true that the US does not place much emphasis on the geography of other lands. Still, be honest—can you name all the people in your neighbor’s family? Are you familiar with the landmarks in a city where you don’t live. It is normal to just not be that concerned with the things we don’t encounter every day.