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Methodology.

(A)   One hundred people were randomly interviewed at Times Square on Broadway in New York City on November 19, 2002.  (Wallace 11-20-2002)



ii      Conclusion.

(A)   The Mirror reported, “When the Daily Mirror carried out a poll of 100 people on the streets of New York yesterday, we found that 80 per cent didn't have a clue where Iraq was.”  (Wallace 11-20-2002)



iii      Excerpts from the Mirror article.

(A)   “New York cop John Riley, mounted on his trusty steed Hoss, studied our map for several minutes, saying: ‘I've got to get this right.’  Then, with his finger hovering over northern Europe, he declared: ‘I know it's round here somewhere. Ah yes, there.’  With a firm stab of his finger, he picked Austria as the new Iraq.”  (Wallace 11-20-2002)

(B)    “A burly construction worker barked: ‘Don't know, don't care, they'll be nothing left of it soon anyway.”  (Wallace 11-20-2002)

(C)    “There was no messing about from Tracey Shauger, 21, and pal Misty Wright, 20, from Michigan.  Five seconds' consideration and a firm "here", as both agreed Iraq was in the Gobi desert. Wrong - that's in Mongolia.”  (Wallace 11-20-2002)

(D)     “Others placed Iraq in France, Germany, Albania, the Caspian Sea, South Africa and Nicaragua.”  (Wallace 11-20-2002)



b         Poll conducted by the American Geographical Society.

i      Methodology.

(A)   3,250 young adults from nine different countries participated in the survey.  Interviews with 2,916 18- to 24-year-olds and  334 25- to 24-year-olds [all from the US] were conducted “using an in-home, in-person methodology.”  

(B)    “A total of 300 interviews were conducted in each country except the U.S.; in the U.S. nearly 500 interviews were conducted with 18-to 24-year-olds and an additional sample of more than 300 25-to 34-year-olds.”

(C)    Interviews were conducted in the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, and Japan.



ii      Results.

(A)   Americans scored third to last when asked to locate the U.S. on a map.  11% of Americans could not find their own country. Mexico scored the highest while Italy and Great Britain took 8th and 9th place respectively.  [National Geographic]

(B)    When the survey participants were asked to locate Japan and Russia on a map, Americans had the most difficulty.  Only 42% could find Japan, and only 62% knew where Russia was.

(C)    When the survey participants were asked - “The Taliban and al Qaeda movements were both based in which country?” - Americans had the most difficulty.  Only 58% of Americans knew that the correct answer was Afghanistan.

(D)    When asked to locate Afghanistan on a map, Americans came in near the bottom, second only to Mexico.  Only 17% of Americans knew where Afghanistan was located.

(E)     Only 1 in 7 Americans could locate Iraq on a map.  (Wallace 11-20-2002)

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How come if our Eastern European systems offer the best education, we are so behind in economical terms compared to USA or other Western countries?

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i'm not going to lie to you here, (I'm from Canada) but the first time i ever heard of Romania was here in HC, and I had to look it up on the a map.

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I live in America, and yes, people are sometimes stupid. I, however, know all fifty states in America and their capitals, and most countries in the world.

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