Will people be expected to know less and less? Does this matter?

One thing we have to know more and more of is passwords: every account, every site that you log in to has a password associated!

Well, the girls all had good hair and chewed gum with panache. That counts for, like, something, right?

That was sooooo depressing.

Let’s hope it’s not typical.

@gailcalled Like, totally! And they flashed boobies. Kewl.

As we create more machines to do our daily tasks and more complicated tasks, I could see a majority of humans doing really nothing more than eat, sleep, video games/other methods of self enterainment, fuck, eat, sleep, self entertain, fuck, eat, sleep… Where do I sign up? Lol.

I apologize for my peers.
Was that video just a gag, or were they being truthful?
That was disappointing either way.

I go to high school on a computer, yet I knew the answers to all those questions without Googling. I don’t rely on the computer to do everything for me.
Machines aid us in doing certain tasks; they should not take the place of retention.
Yes, we do have all the information at our fingertips with the glorious invention of the Internet, but it should not be abused. We should be able to know things.
If you do look something up on the Internet, shouldn’t you be able to retain it, remember it? How many times are you going to look up the same thing because you feel lazy and don’t want to remember it?
I would feel genuinely ashamed if I were one of those kids in that video.

The video mirrors many other surveys I’ve seen where they ask similar (if not the same) questions of people on the street. I write off some of it to being put on the spot with cameras rolling. Tends to make people nervous and they draw a blank. Still it is a bit scary to think that most people can’t come up with simple answers.

Well, as ever you’re only seeing what the video editor chose to show you and it looks like what they wanted to show was kids being ignorant. Frankly unless they’re from Washington state I couldn’t give a flying fuck if they know its capital. Tons of adults gnashed their teeth that at the customary age I was not forced to memorize a block of states and capitals. That I think is a waste of time. There is nothing gained from being able to name every state capital. It certainly doesn’t encourage thought, it’s just mindless memorization.

What does concern me is that they were able to find anyone that didn’t know which war achieved American independence. That’s nuts. That information is valuable and should be part of a basic knowledge base drawn upon to form a person’s understanding of their country and it’s ideals.

@fundevogel I wondered whether the school was in Washington state too because, yes, that makes a big difference. It turns out that it is in Washington state (which I believe is in Canada).

@thorninmud LOL. I saw one kid had an Olympia sweatshirt on, so that was my first clue and led me to be more surprised by the responses.

@thorninmud Well, in that case isn’t it a bit of unfair asking Canadians in which war the US gained independence? I’m pretty sure our frosty friends have more important things to do than learn American history. Igloo-making for one.

@fundevogel Excellent point.

And, surprise, Bill Clinton is our vice-president. Or is it Bin Laden?

State capitals are a challenge because they are those weird places in the center of the state.

I still have trouble with the capitals of W. Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, CA., and those big rectangular states out west.

Some states are easy because they only have one city, like Wyoming, N and S Dakota.

I always forget the capital of South America.

@thorninmud That’s a hard one.

that’s what she said.

@thorninmud: Tijuana

Group hug for @Aesthetic_Mess!! And here’s hoping he’s the norm and those kids in the video were the exception.

@gailcalled I thought it was El Dorado.

That video hurt my head. I agree with @Jaxk to a point that being put on the spot with a camera in one’s face can make people draw a blank, but I think there is a limit to that (such as stating Canada is a state or a myriad of other examples from that video).

Just how shell-shocked does one have to be to forget that our neighbors are Canada and Mexico, at least for today?

@gailcalled That’s a good question. I’m willing to bet we could find Alzheimer’s patients who would be able to answer that one faster than some of those kids did.

There have always been bubbleheads and brainiacs. The solution is to breed the bubbleheads to the brainiacs and hope that the brighter DNA is a take. lol

The camera does strange things. Like this interview. It was the camera, right?
Don’t worry. She will do fine. Who knows, she might even run for office in 8 years.

@cprevite I’m a girl haha
@LuckyGuy I remember that. That was….wow

I don’t really believe that being able to answer specific trivia questions has much to do with being smart. People and schools place way too much emphasis on isolated facts and not enough on how to think.

@YARNLADY Good point.
But aren’t some things common knowledge, like the questions asked in that video?
What do you mean exactly by “how to think”?

@Aesthetic_Mess
I don’t believe much of that information is common knowledge. Most people simply don’t know and don’t care about that sort of thing. That is a perfect example of why the leaders of a country get where they are. The ones who do care, take the lead.

Wrong way: What was the date of the civil war?
Right way: Was the civil war about slavery or economic factors? Explain

Schools would rather have students who can spout answers to trivia questions, because the other way is too hard.

@YARNLADY Ah, I see what you are saying.
I have answered that question, your “right way” question, in school, but that’s another thread.

Without some basic facts thinking can’t really begin. Schools should teach facts and how to think about them.

I really don’t care about a person’s ability to recall facts. It’s their ability to think critically and manipulate new facts and new situations that matters. I know some people that know tons of facts, but are paralyzed when faced with new situations, and they are some of the dumbest people I know. Others might have trouble recalling facts, especially those with memory problems, but know how to navigate life and come up with solutions – those are the people I want with me when we’re all lost in the woods.

@YARNLADY Slavery as an economic factor.

“The Civil War.” Classic.

@YARNLADY knowing the capital of state in which you live is trivial? Sorry, I don’t see it. Those aren’t “trivia questions” by any stretch of the imagination! These kids are going to be voting in a couple of years, it is incredibly important for them to know who the vice president is, which countries border ours, how many states our country has, and at least a tiny bit of US history. I’ll buy the “shocked to be in camera” argument, but many of those kids seemed pretty darn relaxed with that mike in their face. @Aethelflaed, I am always in agreement with the critical thinking argument, but in order to be able to think critically one has to be able to retain certain facts regarding the situation about which they are thinking critically.

I am at work and upon watching this I texted my 13 year-old to ask him the name of the vice president. I haven’t heard back yet and I am really hoping the boy isn’t googling it! Judging from what my boys are being taught in school, I don’t believe that we are moving too far away from the idea that there are certain things every student should know. I can’t help but wonder @thorninmud if your theory is correct, students know how simple it is to get these basic facts and have become too lazy to attempt to retain them.

P.S. The 13 year-old knew the VP and promised he didn’t google it. I asked how many states in our country, he knew that as well (he responded too fast to have looked it up). He also knew the Revolutionary War and our state capital. Public school education too – part of it in California nonetheless! All this mom has to say is phew, what a relief!

[mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

Wrong way: What was the date of the civil war?
Right way: Was the civil war about slavery or economic factors? Explain

Right way, revised: Was the civil war about slavery or economic factors? Did the era of the Civil War have any bearing on the outcome? Explain. What if the Civil War happened today, what might be different?

Of course the children should know items we consider to be basic facts. That is what makes these items basic facts. Memorization teaches the skill of memorization, useful to learn new information quickly and therefore be ahead of your peers and therefore qualifying for that raise your boss might have to hand out. It doesn’t matter what the children memorize so long as they learn the skill and when to apply it. It helps that they memorize something over 150 million other people know, they get a conversation starter.

Critical thinking without having facts memorized makes for a long, drawn out conversation. I want my nieces and nephews to understand me and to do so quickly. Anything else leaves me frustrated with them and they don’t feel like they’ve done anything worthwhile, which they haven’t because they can’t prove it with succinct language and eloquent knowledge. Tough standard, but they have to survive outside the family and they have to have knowledge and skills that let them interact with complete strangers on an even basis, which means knowing basic facts.

It reminded me of the Jay Leno man on the street questions. It really scares me and I always hope; I mean really, really hope, they have to interview thousands who know the correct answers to get the dozen who don’t know the correct answers.

It does seem like it puts on a kind of a show. I mean did they just show us the kids who got all the stuff wrong? Surely some kids got some right answers.
I’m not sure what basic education is like today though. I’d like to think that the advent of the Internet can be a tool yeah, but perhaps not an entire resource. I know that if the Internet was common when I was in school (it was starting out as a thing for the masses) the teachers would not have given up their teaching methods to just go; Google that shit, bitch. I have no idea what it’s like today when it comes to school and the Internet.
Then again, I’m just busy building igloos and fighting frost giants most of the time, so…

I fail to see how memorizing something that can easily be googled or looked up has anything to do with voting responsibly.

@Symbeline I knew it! Massive time suck isn’t it?

It seems to me that there are always stories showing that we are getting dumber. The fact is that the Flynn effect shows that IQ scores have been generally increasing worldwide at the rate of about 3 points per decade.

@LostInParadise Right, but I don’t think this is a matter of “dumb”. These aren’t the kind of questions that show up on IQ tests. They’re facts that one used to just learn and retain in the course of a standard education, or by being vaguely aware of current events.

So “uninformed” rather than “dumb”, I guess.