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Re: Ignorance of technology (was FF)



One of my favorite things to talk about with international students I
worked with when I shelved books at Univ. Wisc.-Madison was that most
Americans can't locate the United States on a world map or globe - that
one always blew them away.

Ellee

On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, Daniel Sokolow wrote:

> Actually, Maria, the biggest problem is here in the US - our grasp of
> history is amazingly poor.  Most adults in the US (much less the children)
> have no idea beyond the basics of any part of our history; they may be
> familiar with the attack on Pearl Harbor, for instance, but they will
> probably look at you blankly when you ask them what brought about the Second
> World War.  Don't even begin to ask the average American about the history
> of Europe, Asia, or anywhere else.
>
> That American kids can be so ignorant of quite recent technology is no
> surprise to me; there's little push to introduce kids to history, and it
> takes something like the WTC attacks (not to drag this generally light
> discussion back to current events) to remind people that we don't live in a
> vacuum.  Everything happening know has roots in the past, and the great
> question "Why?" can often be addressed by saying "let me tell you a story
> that happened before now, so you understand what might have caused this"
>
> Sorry, didn't mean to lecture.
>
> DS
>
> ______________________________________
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