topic Re: A survey on facebook.. in Community Chat

A survey on facebook..

151949 — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:03:18 GMT

All the people asked were in their 20's. The questions - Who is the Vice President? Who won the civil War? Who did the United States win their independance from? Not even one correct answer. BUT when asked what show is Snooky on and who is Brad Pitt married to - all correct answers.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Goldengate8361 — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:12:42 GMT

Ignorance isn't limited to one age group.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Perkup — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:20:16 GMT

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
Ignorance isn't limited to one age group.

Unfortunately you're right, but I'd bet it you asked those same questions of someone over the age of 60 you'd get nearly 100% correct. You have to wonder, just what are they teaching in schools now. And that includes college. So why aren't we teaching these things to our children at home?

Re: A survey on facebook..

deepwaterdotter — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:23:19 GMT

When I need something repaired on my computer system, I call my 18-year-old nephew to help me out.

Re: A survey on facebook..

gidgetgh — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:45:59 GMT

@151949 wrote:
All the people asked were in their 20's. The questions - Who is the Vice President? Who won the civil War? Who did the United States win their independance from? Not even one correct answer. BUT when asked what show is Snooky on and who is Brad Pitt married to - all correct answers.

@151949- I saw the same survey on Facebook a few weeks ago and was aghast.

Re: A survey on facebook..

151949 — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:46:12 GMT

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
Ignorance isn't limited to one age group.

And exactly where did I say it was - this was how the survey was presented. Sheesh.

Re: A survey on facebook..

151949 — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:48:58 GMT

To give credit where credit is due - one young woman did say the VP is John Biden.

Re: A survey on facebook..

MomCat — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:52:57 GMT

I see these kind of surveys all the time. A great number done on college campuses. You don't think ignorance is limited to one age group? Well, while I can agree with that statement in general, it has to be troubling to know young people not only don't know these answers, they don't care. Yes, they can show you how to use a feature in your cell phone in an instant, but seriously, that's impressive if that's all they got?? You have to be grounded in something to build from.

Re: A survey on facebook..

sunala — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:54:34 GMT

I saw a few interviews on college campuses, where students were asked questions like, "Who fought the Civil War?" and "Who was our first president?" and "What is the Cold War?" Honestly, they didn't have a clue.

The young men blew it off, and the ladies giggled and acted cutesy, and said things like "I guess I should know this, huh."

Uh yeah, you should. It made me so embarrassed for our country. And scared for our future.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Irshgrl31201 — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:05:57 GMT

That is very sad. The very sad thing is that they most likely know every fact about the Kardashians.

A few years ago, I met my friends niece who was visiting from out of town. She was 21 yrs old and I forget exactly how the subject was brought up but we started talking about the Holocaust. She had no idea what that meant. She didn't recognize the names Adolf Hitler nor did she know what was done to the Jews. I was completely shocked and so was my friend. She said she was embarrassed. She kept telling her niece to stop fooling around as we both just thought she was joking. She swore up and down she wasn't joking at all.

Re: A survey on facebook..

SusieQ_2 — Sun, 29 May 2016 17:59:41 GMT

@Perkup wrote:

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
Ignorance isn't limited to one age group.

Unfortunately you're right, but I'd bet it you asked those same questions of someone over the age of 60 you'd get nearly 100% correct. You have to wonder, just what are they teaching in schools now. And that includes college. So why aren't we teaching these things to our children at home?

It's good to know an extra forty years of living and experience teaches us something!

Re: A survey on facebook..

Plaid Pants2 — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:14:18 GMT

That's exactly why I have always said that December 7th will not live in infamy, contrary to what President Franklin D. Roosevelt said.

Even what happened on 9/11 will loose its importance.

Those dates won't have the same meaning to future generations, as it does to those who lived through those important dates.

I think it's because they don't have an emotional connection to those dates.

They may have a distant relative who was at Pearl Harbor, or fought in WWII, or was in N.Y.C., when tragedy happened, but, if they didn't actually know thoses people, then I think it's harder for them to relate to the significance of the dates.

I think when our grandchildren have grandchildren, it'll all be but forgotten.

I don't know if anybody ever watched the segment "Jay Walking" when Jay Leno was hosting the "Tonight Show", but it showed just how dumbed down this country has become.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Susan in California — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:31:13 GMT

Do you remember Jay Leno's "Jay Walking"? He would go out

asking general knowledge questions of people walking around.

Many of the people were tourists--adults of all age groups, races

and ethnicities. He would ask their education level, and many, many

were college grads; some claimed to have Masters degrees.

Questions like:

What country is bordering the northern part of the US?

What two states are separate from the first 48?

Who is our current VP?

Name as many justices as you can on the SCOTUS.

What are the names of the oceans on the West / East coasts?

What continent is France located in?

When was WWI, WWII?

Most of the people could not answer the questions--it was incredible. One

gentleman, who claimed he was in management in a large company,

was thrown off by most of them. And he was probably about 55.

As a former educator myself, I can tell you that these things are still taught in school! I'm not sure why people don't learn/remember. I suppose memory is

selective, and many people are just not interested. Who knows?

I know when I was growing up, my dad and mom loved talking about

all sorts of things at the dinner table--I learned so much at home from them.

Just an aside: My son told me a friend of his had a girlfriend studying at

UC Berkeley who didn't know who Bob Dylan was. He

was amazed by that as well.

Re: A survey on facebook..

bri20 — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:47:42 GMT

It's sad. It's so important to talk about current events with young people

Re: A survey on facebook..

Plaid Pants2 — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:49:16 GMT

@bri20 wrote:
It's sad. It's so important to talk about current events with young people

Too many young people don't see what happened on December 7th, or on 9/11 as a "current" event, unfortunatly.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Mellie32 — Sun, 29 May 2016 18:53:06 GMT

I remember having to explain what a "census" is and how to pronounce it to a fellow teacher.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Goldengate8361 — Sun, 29 May 2016 19:27:14 GMT

Sorry to deliver the light of truth to you....but talking about how ignorant a younger generation is.....is so "cliche" Abe trite. As people get older, they always talk about how a younger generation isn't as smart as them.

Re: A survey on facebook..

151949 — Sun, 29 May 2016 19:39:32 GMT

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
Sorry to deliver the light of truth to you....but talking about how ignorant a younger generation is.....is so "cliche" Abe trite. As people get older, they always talk about how a younger generation isn't as smart as them.

Sorry, not taking the bait - go fight with someone somewhere else.

Re: A survey on facebook..

mstyrion 1 — Sun, 29 May 2016 19:45:15 GMT

These youth-bashing threads come up so often here.

Think back to when you were 20 years old. Did you know or care very much about 100 year old history? Could you have named two SCOTUS? Did you have details about pop stars of your parents or grand-parents era? Yes, I had a good working knowledge of the Civil War, but I doubt I could have given you the exact years it was fought when I was 20. I knew who the president and VP were but that's it. I couldn't have named any cabinent members. At 20, I had other things on my mind. It wasn't until later that I started paying attention to that kind of stuff.

You do realize that Jay Leno only puts the dumb answers on TV, don't you?

You do realize that not everything on the internet is true, don't you?

Our generation has it's own "dumbness".

Science deniers.

Gossip believers

Blind trust in media accuracy

It's silly and arrogant to expect a 20 year old to be interested in the exact same things I am interested in at 60. I've got 40 years of experience on them. Their time will come.

Re: A survey on facebook..

Plaid Pants2 — Sun, 29 May 2016 19:46:37 GMT

@mstyrion 1 wrote:
These youth-bashing threads come up so often here.

Think back to when you were 20 years old. Did you know or care very much about 100 year old history? Could you have named two SCOTUS? Did you have details about pop stars of your parents or grand-parents era? Yes, I had a good working knowledge of the Civil War, but I doubt I could have given you the exact years it was fought when I was 20. I knew who the president and VP were but that's it. I couldn't have named any cabinent members. At 20, I had other things on my mind. It wasn't until later that I started paying attention to that kind of stuff.

You do realize that Jay Leno only puts the dumb answers on TV, don't you?
You do realize that not everything on the internet is true, don't you?

Our generation has it's own "dumbness".
Science deniers.
Gossip believers
Blind trust in media accuracy

It's silly and arrogant to expect a 20 year old to be interested in the exact same things I am interested in at 60. I've got 40 years of experience on them. Their time will come.

And they'll be the ones complaining about how dumb the younger generation is.