Shocked by the young generations lack of geography

[amazingtrade]

Why is no longer considered important to know where Manchester, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool, Stoke (actually if nobody knew were it was it would do us all a favour )

I am almost 22 so still young but some people including people of my age have no idea that Bristol is in the south west or Manchester is in the North West. I find it very shocking.

The modern education system is too obsessed with thinking and dosn't bother with practical stuff like where cities are or which river flows through Nottingham etc.

 

[MO!]

Shut up you old git!

 

[johnhunt]

it's important to know where london is but beyond that....

 

[Matt F]

And they've no idea when or where an apostrophe should be used.

For example: "Shocked by the young generations lack of geography"



Matt.

 

[julian2002]

use multimap....
actually i never really saw the point of filling your head with loads of stuff you may not need. the most impportant thing, imho, is learning HOW to learn. that way if you do need to know the relative locations of major british cities then you have the tools at hand to be able to do it and the knowledge of where to find the information.
a certain amount of general knowledge is a good thing though but everyone will pick up things relevant to them and their daily lives. for example i navigate from bedfordshire to a small village in somerset called chilton polden without looking at a map but i've no idea where stoke is, mainly because i've never needed to know but if i did it would be a couple of clicks away on multimap or a quick flick through an atlas.
cheers


julian

 

[michaelab]

I generally agree with you Julian but everyone should know some basic stuff. I think knowing roughly where the major cities of the country you live in are in relation to each other is basic stuff. As is (sticking with geography) knowing roughly where the major countries of the world are and a bit about them.

Just as I know where Washington DC is and that Washington State is something totally different (the NW most state of the US, where Seattle is) I'd expect Americans to know that the UK is separated from the rest of Europe by the Channel...unfortunately, most US teenagers aren't aware of that little detail of European geography (and the same probably applies to UK teenagers knowing about the two Washingtons).

Michael.

 

[sideshowbob]

But London is the only major city in the UK. The rest can simply be filed under "not London".

-- Ian

 

[GrahamN]

unfortunately, most US teenagers aren't aware of that little detail of European geography

It's far worse than that - I remember a survey that showed something like 50% of Americans could not recognise their OWN state on a map, even more surprising given that they all seem to have them on their number-plates.

Once I was stopped (for speeding) by an Ohio copper who, after failing to identify anything at all on my driving licence, and me telling him that I came from the UK (in three different ways), came to the remarkable conclusion that I was from out of state! I was also identified by a central Pennsylvanian petrol pump attendant as being from Quebec, seemingly on the grounds that we both say "Zed" rather than "Zee" - although having only the requisite number of heads and limbs may also have identified be as being non-local!

 

[Lt Cdr Data]

I recall one blasted yank on ebay even thought we used US dollars!! Talk about heads up arses

 

[amazingtrade]

This was as bad though on this program though, there were some kids (15, 16 year olds) on that will teach em which is a program sending modern kids to a 1960's school. They had to point to cities on a map and nobody had a clue. Some of them didn't know where London was despite living there. There kids were people who were considered low achievers though.

I admit I dont' know much about US geography but I know there difference between Utach and Texas. Its like people don't seem to care about the environment around them.

 

[michaelab]

I admit I dont' know much about US geography but I know there difference between Utach and Texas.

You're doing better than I am then as I've never heard of Utach

Some people might say that spelling and grammar are as important as geography general knowledge:

" I know there difference "
" I dont' know "



Michael.

 

[amazingtrade]

Sorry that thread was full of grammar and typos. I mean't to say Utah I don't know how I managed to do that.

In modern schools grammar/spelling seems to be not important either, English now is about thinking and analysing (it probably was then as well but not the whole thing) once you get to secondary school spelling is just considered not important. This is the problem with modern education it isn't practical enough.

The problem dates back years as well, my mum left school in the mid 70's and one of her friends got a job as a primrary school teacher and couldn't spell a damn thing, she got an E in her A levels too. If these people are teaching kids its hardly surprising really.

 

[batfink]

she got an E in her A levels too.

That doesn't always mean your thick. It could just be a "blip" on your journey through life (speaking from experience )

I now have a 2.1 degree, a good job at a FTSE100 company and am almost a qualified accountant so it didn't do me too much damage

 

[Lt Cdr Data]

The problem dates back years as well, my mum left school in the mid 70's and one of her friends got a job as a primrary school teacher and couldn't spell a damn thing, she got an E in her A levels too. If these people are teaching kids its hardly surprising really.

you should have seen some of the trainee teachers I trained with, nice bunch of people, but....

its going down the a levels are getting easier route.

If you can't get the kids better, then lower the grades to make you think standards are rising.

Do we REALLY believe kids are cleverer? teaching has got better.

Who do you believe universities, or an mp with an agenda? anyone who tells you standards are the same IS A LIAR.

Well, when the uniys say standards are falling, and the kids say they can't do exams of years ago, what does that tell you.

I for one cannot believe the confusion in this area, they are covering up as usual. The emphasis has changed, I was the first gcse, and they took loads of hard stuff out of them and had to take a lot of the maths out of the a level chemistry.

Now they can take text books into exams, there is less 'rigour' about them, stuff HAS been removed, just look at the books, colourful with dumbed down info and compare to texts prior, full of comprehensive info, with few images.

And what good will it do, degrees in everything, loads of people with degrees chasing few jobs, you will have them doing shop work, and you can't even get a 'lower' job, as everyone who has a degree is chasing them.
What good long term is that going to do?

My own education is seriously lacking in certain areas, I was not given what I wanted to learn, my history, literature, and classical education is virtually non existant. I have had to sort that myself.

Granted, I don't actually see what use being able do do maths is to a lot of jobs, there are many skills in this world I would have like to have been taught, rather than useless info.

car maintenance,
law basics
how to run a household, finance,
healthcare
family stuff, how to cope with deaths, divorce, all the advice available, so you don't have to struggle thro'
how to get along at work, job applications

all this and loads more 'coping skills' I would have like to have been taught rather than just pick it up as you go along. I for one feel cheated and let down in some ways with my education.

 

[lhatkins]

Why is no longer considered important to know where Manchester, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool, Stoke (actually if nobody knew were it was it would do us all a favour )

I am almost 22 so still young but some people including people of my age have no idea that Bristol is in the south west or Manchester is in the North West. I find it very shocking.

The modern education system is too obsessed with thinking and dosn't bother with practical stuff like where cities are or which river flows through Nottingham etc.

I'd say that for all of the cities on that list, theyr're all north of Exeter and that's all I need to know!

 

[penance]

Should it not be -
Lack of geographical knowledge?
nd not - lack of geography?

 

[sideshowbob]

As long as people from Stoke know how to get from their hovels to the fields they have to till, I can't see what more they need to know about geography.

-- Ian

 

[midlifecrisis]

As long as people from Stoke know how to get from their hovels to the fields they have to till, I can't see what more they need to know about geography.

-- Ian

in similar vein and to save money, you only really need road signs when heading south, as no-one ever goes back the other way...

 

[amazingtrade]

This is kind of my point, surely teaching somebody how to replace a halter arm or change spark plugs on a car is better is more useful than Shakespere or am I missing somthing?

A lot of kids are simply just not interested, there needs to be more choice then perhaps more people will go into jobs rather than university. The amount of degree level places have been frozen for the next 10 years to try and combat the problem, but the as a result universities are lowering their standards offering so called foundation degrees etc. There is nothing wrong with this but the marketing is just total wrong.

Too many people are doing media studies in the hope of becoming the next director general of the BBC, it simply dosn't work like that. A degree does help matters especialy in getting a job with promotion prospects but the government should concentrate on the lower scale. 50% of people leave school with poor GCSE results.

As for A levels getting easier I can't comment because I have not sat old A levles. However now because of the AS system the weaker students drop out before being able to take the A2s. So its only the brightest students who tend to take them, in the old days you didn't take your A levels until the final year. Teaching has improved a bit, and students have access to much more resources now because of the internet.

My biggest weak spot is my english, I know it sucks.

PS For all these digs about the north, the North West ecomeny alone is worth more than Irelands or Greeces. And my local Selfridges are not selling a £15,000 cocktail for nothing.

 

[domfjbrown]

Why is no longer considered important to know where Manchester, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Newcastle, Liverpool, Stoke

I know where most of those places are, but why do you NEED to know - that's what multimap, google etc are for.

It's like Maths - I reckon that will be the next latin; I know hardly ANYONE who sees a need for maths - computers are there for a reason.

Language and writing on the other hand...