Anonymous wrote:I was out in public yesterday and overheard the following conversation:

Woman 1: “I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to get out more. I am going to Boston and then to Rhode Island to see the ocean. Is it the Pacific that’s there?”

Woman 2: “I have no idea.”

There’s no hope!

That is ignorance, not stupidity. Travel helps ignorance.

Prolly stupider then yous ken imagin

What would you say to woman 1?

If I didn’t really like woman 1, I might just give a similar response to end the conversation.

For those familiar with the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, Jethro would most likely be in the top 10% with respect to intelligence today.

Most Americans think they are smarter than most Americans. Yet they never say what they really think about recent immigrants or how smart they are. They're just happy to pay them less.

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Anonymous wrote:It’s almost like the Department of Education hasn’t been helpful.

It's almost like DOE doesn't produce curriculum. Oh wait, they don't. That's not their job.

So, PP hasn’t read DOE’s mission. It’s more than just “curriculum.”

Oceans and US presidents are part of each state’s curriculum. All these facts mentioned are part of the average curriculum. I don’t know why people don’t know these basic things. Are they a measure of intelligence? Or, evidence of a fine mind? I don’t know. It does appear that we have been going downhill since DOE was established. Correlation? Causation?

DOE is not involved in curriculum or tests, at all. You may as well say "My hair is getting gray and also gray paint is in style. Causation?"

Most people cannot list all the oceans and seas, and that's not new. Most people cannot list all the US presidents, and that's not new either. In both categories, most people can name "the big ones" only. OP described somebody who didn't know one of the big ones, and yes that's a little shocking but it can't really be generalized nor is it the end of the world.

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Anonymous wrote:Yes.

When I moved here from Pittsburgh for a job, I told my new DC & MD colleagues at work that I was from PA.

What part? Pittsburgh.

Oh cool, I know someone from Philly...maybe you know them...their name is XYZ.

Seriously.

To be fair that's a lot of P-words to keep track of.

lol...it really is. Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. Philadelphia.
It's too much.
Why do we need to know them all anyway?
My brain can't take it.

Lots of east coasters F up Michigan, Milwaukee, and Minnesota too.

They probably can’t even label the Great Lakes correctly either. Or worse, they think they should be able to see across them.

Ugh. Idiots.

DP. I really do consider knowing the names of the Atl/Pac Oceans to be important in the sense of why wouldn't you want to know this?

You can debate why it's important or not to know but when you come right down to it how hard is it to remember and why would anyone who has 1/2 a brain not want to know just out of sheer curiosity and/or knowledge as it pertains to the waters both bordering the country they live in.

It's the mentality if trying to convince someone why they should remember it that's so silly to me. I also think that knowing all 50 states and where they are in the US is something you'd naturally want to know. As a human being who lives in the US being an American citizen! I mean, why is that something that needs to be debated over? It's totally not important but wouldn't it make sense to know simply out of respect for yourself and for this country?

I think that's what's missing these days. The self motivation to be knowledgeable because it's better than to be unknowledgeable. Sure, nobody needs to know every piece of info like every state capital or the size of every planet. But just the very basic elements of what states make up the US seems pretty reasonable. Ugh.

I met a 30 yo who said she could not go jogging because her GPS was not working.

We were in a city with a grid. But she thought she needed a phone to find her way back when she could have jogged in a square or used a paper map.

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Anonymous wrote:There is no excuse for being this ignorant. It is unlikely that it stops at basic geography either.

I mean, you can make whatever generalizations you want. But as mentioned above, geography is not taught anymore in school and, until you have seen an ocean, there's no real reason to keep it in the forefront of your memory. That has nothing to do with other forms of knowledge, experience, life skills, or wisdom. Or worth of a person.

What???? THere a million reasons to keep it in the forefront of your memory.

A million? Name ten. Hell, name one.

You can't be serious. The most basic knowledge of where you are in the world is paramount. How the products make it to your house is another reason. Weather and predicting natural disasters, global and personal security. I could go on and on. Are you really this dumb?

One interview question I like to ask people is how many tubes of toothpaste are sold in the US each year. I don't know the number, but I'm looking at how they reason it out, and how much they know about the US population size-wise. A good answer would be to say well I use about 4 tubes/year, and the US population is about 300mln so that's 1.2bln. It's close enough for me, and it's also somewhat reasonable (yes, I know the US population is 330mln but it's close enough). I had one interviewee think the US population is 10 million. She didn't get the job.

This question is important in our industry because we design systems and need to figure out expected usage. Knowing the population is a good anchor point to start with.

Just be glad that you didn't have to answer that question to me to get your job.

Obviously you didn't consider that a not-insignificant number of people will purchase travel toothpaste for when they, well, travel. That's more than four tubes per year per person.

And dentists don't get those sample toothpastes for free. More sales.

We'll leave US toothpaste exports out of consideration so that you can save some face.

Sounds to me that you aren't the greatest fit for what you supposedly do, much less the best judge for deciding who might be a fit.

You’re trying so hard to sound smart but just falling short.

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Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Why do you presume people are so one dimensional and can only do one thing well? Bizarre premise.

That is not the premise.

Apparently it is. And I don't know any stupid surgeons who can't answer basic questions. Neither do you.

LOL apparently you’ve never asked a surgeon to calculate simple interest. They’re notoriously terrible at such tasks. Based on your non-sensical attempt at logic (hint: not doing one thing well but also doing something else well =/= doing only one thing well) you are most likely also bad at math.

You actually believe this? Lol. You fool nobody.

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Anonymous wrote:There is no excuse for being this ignorant. It is unlikely that it stops at basic geography either.

I mean, you can make whatever generalizations you want. But as mentioned above, geography is not taught anymore in school and, until you have seen an ocean, there's no real reason to keep it in the forefront of your memory. That has nothing to do with other forms of knowledge, experience, life skills, or wisdom. Or worth of a person.

What???? THere a million reasons to keep it in the forefront of your memory.

A million? Name ten. Hell, name one.

You can't be serious. The most basic knowledge of where you are in the world is paramount. How the products make it to your house is another reason. Weather and predicting natural disasters, global and personal security. I could go on and on. Are you really this dumb?

One interview question I like to ask people is how many tubes of toothpaste are sold in the US each year. I don't know the number, but I'm looking at how they reason it out, and how much they know about the US population size-wise. A good answer would be to say well I use about 4 tubes/year, and the US population is about 300mln so that's 1.2bln. It's close enough for me, and it's also somewhat reasonable (yes, I know the US population is 330mln but it's close enough). I had one interviewee think the US population is 10 million. She didn't get the job.

This question is important in our industry because we design systems and need to figure out expected usage. Knowing the population is a good anchor point to start with.

Just be glad that you didn't have to answer that question to me to get your job.

Obviously you didn't consider that a not-insignificant number of people will purchase travel toothpaste for when they, well, travel. That's more than four tubes per year per person.

And dentists don't get those sample toothpastes for free. More sales.

We'll leave US toothpaste exports out of consideration so that you can save some face.

Sounds to me that you aren't the greatest fit for what you supposedly do, much less the best judge for deciding who might be a fit.

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Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Because everyone who graduates highschool should know the names and locations of continents and oceans FFS.

Why?

Why know anything? Why even learn your own name?

Why not respond to a very simple question with rhetorical questions rather than take the time to think about it?

Why can't you respond to questions? It cuts both ways.

I asked the question first. And, more importantly, I asked the person making the claim to explain their reasoning. You are asking the equivalent of “well how do YOU know God DOESN’T exist?!”

You (or a different PP) said that “everyone who graduates high school should know the names and locations of continents and oceans”. Can you even explain what a continent is? Where does one continent end and another begin? What an ocean is? Where does one ocean end and another begin? What is the purpose of these designations?

And then explain why those of us who graduated high school 20 years ago would have named four oceans while those graduating high school now will name five? And yet, at the time of graduation, we were all “correct”? Did a brand new ocean spring out of the ether?

I graduated from HS in '94 and could have definitely named the Atlantic, maybe the Pacific, and wouldn't have known two others. I could not have named the continents. Public school on Long Island, NY.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Why do you presume people are so one dimensional and can only do one thing well? Bizarre premise.

That is not the premise.

Apparently it is. And I don't know any stupid surgeons who can't answer basic questions. Neither do you.

LOL apparently you’ve never asked a surgeon to calculate simple interest. They’re notoriously terrible at such tasks. Based on your non-sensical attempt at logic (hint: not doing one thing well but also doing something else well =/= doing only one thing well) you are most likely also bad at math.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is more ignorant than the people she is mocking. They are going out to explore the world, while OP prides herself on trivia.

https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-knowing-something/

OP here. As others have pointed out, knowing the names of the two oceans that border our country is not trivia (or trivial), but just basic information that any fully functioning American adult (or child for that matter) should know. But you’re right, I’m sure she could have delivered a lecture on ocean currents, tidal basins and other matters related to oceanography.

Why would it have to be oceanography? Maybe she could have delivered a lecture on the soil food web, or the different classifications of curly hair types, or performed open heart surgery, or told you the best cleaning agents for every possible stain on every possible surface. But she couldn’t remember if the ocean she has never seen before is called the Atlantic or the Pacific, so she’s stupid and you’re smart. Congratulations. Here’s your prize.

Because everyone who graduates highschool should know the names and locations of continents and oceans FFS.

Why?

Why know anything? Why even learn your own name?

Why not respond to a very simple question with rhetorical questions rather than take the time to think about it?

Why can't you respond to questions? It cuts both ways.

I asked the question first. And, more importantly, I asked the person making the claim to explain their reasoning. You are asking the equivalent of “well how do YOU know God DOESN’T exist?!”

You (or a different PP) said that “everyone who graduates high school should know the names and locations of continents and oceans”. Can you even explain what a continent is? Where does one continent end and another begin? What an ocean is? Where does one ocean end and another begin? What is the purpose of these designations?

And then explain why those of us who graduated high school 20 years ago would have named four oceans while those graduating high school now will name five? And yet, at the time of graduation, we were all “correct”? Did a brand new ocean spring out of the ether?

You really think you're thinking some deep thoughts. It's amusing.