Where's the Ukraine?

[marylander1940]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/files/2014/04/Ukraine_Full.png

 

About one in six (16 percent) Americans correctly located Ukraine, clicking somewhere within its borders. Most thought that Ukraine was located somewhere in Europe or Asia, but the median respondent was about 1,800 miles off — roughly the distance from Chicago to Los Angeles — locating Ukraine somewhere in an area bordered by Portugal on the west, Sudan on the south, Kazakhstan on the east, and Finland on the north.

[+ WilliamM]

When was the survey conducted? Surely, more people know where Ukraine is lately.

[+ FreshFluff]

The important part is that they located it just to the west of Russia, which many of them did. I wouldn't blame them too much if they clicked in Belarus, for example.

[marylander1940]

The important part is that they located it just to the west of Russia, which many of them did. I wouldn't blame them too much if they clicked in Belarus, for example.

 

It was conducted by the Washington Post last week, only 16% of Americans located Ukraine correctly.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-08/wheres-ukraine

[Frequentflier]

It was conducted by the Washington Post last week, only 16% of Americans located Ukraine correctly.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-08/wheres-ukraine

 

And some placed Ukraine within the United States. This is not the only example of too many people in this country being ignorant. Ask them about what happened recently on Duck Dynasty, Glee, or some other tv show that ads nothing to one's intelligence and I imagine they will give a more accurate answer. Schools with higher standards overall, longer school days (and teaching months in a year), people reading more books (history, geography, other non-fiction), newspapers (many on line are free) might result in voters that make better decisions and kids who are smarter because they see their parents reading the right stuff. There are many households that are enlightened with members that spend their time in productive ways but we need a heck of a lot more of them. And there are more changes that would give us better results, these are just some ideas.

[adriano46]

marylander1940 - I tend to not be surprised by such questions on world politics but it is still saddening. And yes, Frequentflier you have an excellent point -- ask people about something that happened last month on any of the popular reality TV shows and they can give a full and complete rundown. Having thankfully spent most of my life living overseas as an expatriate (which means I was an American abroad, as recently someone thought it meant I was against my country!!!!!!), I was blessed to be forced to keep up to date on the current events all over the globe - Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, Oceania - and traveled to all of those parts. I am great at geography quizzes and surveys and can name regional capitals many have not even heard of. But I still find it sad when discussing this in the context of a dinner or cocktail party I am met by blank stares when I mention some of these places, or recent hot spots of conflict (bring up South Sudan, Central African Republic, politics in Turkey, secession in Crimea - this topic - or changes in political parties in Europe and you see people turn away... embarrassed? disinterested? bored? or plain clueless? )

[Samai139]

Ive often been critical of the apparent ignorance of many Americans when it comes to geography, current events, history. In my old age I've decided that it's better for my mental health to just look the other way when confronted with such lack of knowledge; just as I try my best to ignore errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation in postings here.

There is a passage in the Bible which says, and I am paraphrasing: "Why do you see the mote in your neighbour's eye and ignore the log in your own,"

[bigvalboy]

marylander1940 - I tend to not be surprised by such questions on world politics but it is still saddening. And yes, Frequentflier you have an excellent point -- ask people about something that happened last month on any of the popular reality TV shows and they can give a full and complete rundown. Having thankfully spent most of my life living overseas as an expatriate (which means I was an American abroad, as recently someone thought it meant I was against my country!!!!!!), I was blessed to be forced to keep up to date on the current events all over the globe - Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, Oceania - and traveled to all of those parts. I am great at geography quizzes and surveys and can name regional capitals many have not even heard of. But I still find it sad when discussing this in the context of a dinner or cocktail party I am met by blank stares when I mention some of these places, or recent hot spots of conflict (bring up South Sudan, Central African Republic, politics in Turkey, secession in Crimea - this topic - or changes in political parties in Europe and you see people turn away... embarrassed? disinterested? bored? or plain clueless? )

 

Excellent comments from Frequentflier and Adriano I too am saddened but am no longer surprised. I remember just being at a loss for words when co-workers not only didn't know about a current crisis that was going on somewhere in the world, but showed a complete lack of interest.

 

Now this is by no means universally true, but it just seems to me that Europeans are more in-tune to world events than many Americans. I have had the most engaging and spirited conversations about not only American politics, but world events when traveling abroad and talking to strangers. As Frequentflier mentions, does the problem start with our educational system, or is part cultural? Perhaps it is a problem elsewhere in the world also, and I'm just not seeing it. I do tend to be less vocal these days when discussing world issues and try to confine those conversations to friends of mine who share a mutual interest.

[leigh.bess.toad]

It's always a good time for this:

 

[video=youtube;lj3iNxZ8Dww]

 

This never gets old.

[scatphilly]

Ukraine: another foreign hell hole that Obama has had the good sense to keep the USA out of .

[bigvalboy]

Yes Lee, I started laughing before I even hit 'play'....You're right, It just never gets old.

[Guest boiworship08]

I'm surprised that 16% correctly placed Ukraine. I figured it might be only 5%.

[marylander1940]

Ukraine: another foreign hell hole that Obama has had the good sense to keep the USA out of .

 

A dangerous one, very important for Russian and without oil.

If McCain was President we'd be already "reconstructing" Libya and Syria, possibly invading Iran too.

[+ Gar1eth]

I am horrible at geography. To my best recollection, I never had a 50 states test or capitals test when I was a child. So I can't completely name all the states on a map. I can get a lot of them. But I doubt I could get all. As for the state capitals- except for a few states, I wouldn't even try. Just to assuage all of you who are shocked by this, I do remember having been taught broad generalities about the regions of the USA- the South, the Midwest, the Northeast, the West, and etc.

 

While I am lousy at American geography- I am slightly better at well-known European countries- England, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Italy. I would have been able to place Ukraine as somewhere around Russia- but no closer. Even after looking it up the other day, I might still fail finding it definitely.

 

 

Now this is by no means universally true, but it just seems to me that Europeans are more in-tune to world events than many Americans. I have had the most engaging and spirited conversations about not only American politics, but world events when traveling abroad and talking to strangers.

 

I think for Americans, it is partially cultural as well as educational- and as part of our culture, I am including geography. What I mean is that in Europe depending on where you are if you could drive a mythical 'straight' road that went through mountains and bodies of water starting at the Western edge of Russsia and heading west say at 60 mph- how many different countries do you think you'd be able to to through- I'm betting a lot. You take that same mythical road in the USA starting at North Carolina heading west- you would not have covered anywhere near half the length of the USA. The European countries are so close together and have history together for so many hundreds of years. I think it makes it easier. Here in the USA traditionally we are shielded by the Atlantic and Pacific along with having only two close neighbors- Canada and Mexico. I realize things are changing. But I'm 53- as 'short' a time ago as when I was a pre-teen- flying was something very special and not done at the drop of a hat. The majority of Americans- even middle class Americans- probably never went to Europe. Especially if you lived in the heartland, Europe was some place far away and exotic. And even more recently think about long distance phone calls 20 years ago before cell phones and plans with free roaming. Now it's nothing for two buddies one from New York City and the other from Los Angeles to pick up the phone and call/text each other. The same two guys back in the pre-cell phone days might have arranged a weekly or a monthly call. And then of course there is history. Just over a hundred years ago most of the American population was rural. I think they say some of the big move to the cities came maybe with the return of the WWI veterans. Aside from the groups of immigrants who founded the USA, they were probably the first large group of Americans to actually see Europe. So culture, history and geography- all play a part. That doesn't mean that the current educational system shouldn't be doing a better job on geography- it should. But I'll bet the factors I named have a lot to do with Americans' stereotypical ignorance of world affairs.

 

On the other hand- I think you are giving the Europeans too much of a pass. I'm going to assume that most Eurpeans that you meet are of the middle class or above. How often did you meet or actually socialize with Europeans without some University courses in their background? I'm betting if you met a lot of average Europeans- or went out into the country-side- you would find a lot of Europeans who weren't that knowledgeable. And the proportions I'm betting would be higher among the poorer European countries especially those that had been behind the Iron Curtain.

 

Gman

[EastbayMike]

When I first saw the title of the thread I wasn't sure if it was geography question or a grammar question.

[marylander1940]

When I first saw the title of the thread I wasn't sure if it was geography question or a grammar question.

 

You're the first one to notice my "mistyping".

[Bart]

To be honest I would agree wth the notion that 16% being absolutely correct was not bad and the fact that significant portion at least put it close to Russia is not bad. Especially if you were to watch Wheel of Fortune this week where I was apalled at the lack of knowledge by so many of the contestants on College Week. While the famous of these was Friday when the contestant lost 10's of thousands for not know how to pronounce Achilles, while I think the real reason is the "student" did not know who Achilles was. The person pronounced it A-Chill-is. One of the most condeming had to be on Monday when with the board showing Of _ice And _en _y _ohn Stein_bec_ not one, not two but all three could not figure out who the author and book was. Note the students were from UCLA, Northwestern and I cant remember the 3rd university but I was absolutely appalled. The winner had guess th B and the M and answered with a inflection of question when they responded. It is one of John Steinbeck's easiest books to read that many Jr high schools use to have on their standard American Literature courses. So when three college students can't figure this out not surprised that only 16% of the US knows where the Ukraine is.

[marylander1940]

http://i.imgur.com/vsHFcNY.jpg?1

 

http://absterabbi.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/the-world-according-to-americans-1020_lg.jpg

 

Detailed areas.

 

http://www.demilked.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/mapping-stereotypes-yuri-tsvetkov-thumb640.jpg

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bpZaIBK9nKY/Uad-VIDrF_I/AAAAAAAAHK8/EhNOxAos7AA/s1600/American+map+of+world+3.jpg

[+ Gar1eth]

When I first saw the title of the thread I wasn't sure if it was geography question or a grammar question.

 

You're the first one to notice my "mistyping".

 

I'm not sure I understand what the mis-typing was. If it's "Where's," I understood that to be an informal form of 'Where is.' If it is referring to 'The Ukraine' per Wikipedia that used to be the way the country was referred to. And I quote 'The Ukraine" was once the usual form in English[21] but since the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the English-speaking world has largely stopped using the definite article.[22][23]'

 

If there is something else wrong about the title of the thread, I have totally missed it.

 

Gman

[Samai139]

The original title of the thread read: "Where's is the Ukraine?" Somewhere along the line, it was edited to read:

"Where's the Ukraine?"

And for Marylander: No, he was not the first to notice it. I did, but I thought I would just ignore a typo---that's what I was referring to in my original reply.

[+ Gar1eth]

The original title of the thread read: "Where's is the Ukraine?" Somewhere along the line, it was edited to read:

"Where's the Ukraine?"

And for Marylander: No, he was not the first to notice it. I did, but I thought I would just ignore a typo---that's what I was referring to in my original reply.

 

Thank you for the information. I didn't think you could edit titles to threads. At least I don't think I have ever been able to.

 

Gman