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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Miss Teen on U.S. Education
A 2006 National Geographic poll determined that young Americans are geographically illiterate and I do believe this response qualifies. The survey found that young adults in the United States fail to understand the world and their place in it. This is what we end up with when that happens.
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omg
I've just logged this under YouTube and "greatest hits."
This is probably a good illustration of what happens when you teach to exposure, not to mastery.
This girl has obviously been exposed to knowledge.
But no one (it seems) has checked to see whether any of the knowledge has been incorporated into a schema.
It's all just jumbled up inside her head (I've had the same experience, believe me).
We need WAY more assessment.
Way, way more assessment.
Then, after we have assessment, we need heavy-duty, emergency RETEACHING.
I just showed this to Ed & Chris.
They were impressed.
I just want her mom to go up and take her by the hand and say, "C'mon honey, it's time to go home now."
lollllll!!!!
"This is probably a good illustration of what happens when you teach to exposure, not to mastery."
Actually, this is more likely what happens when you freeze under pressure.
In high school I was part of the speech and debate team. One event is (or was ... I haven't checked recently) something called "impromptu". You are given three topics from which to choose and have *two* minutes to prepare a five minute speech.
It is a very useful skill to pick up, but does take a bit of practice. I think I gave a few speeches that looked a bit like the one poor Ms South Carolina is giving here.
Eventually, I learned to *not* be flustered and started giving good speeches consistently.
NOTE: Ms. South Carolina probably doesn't know the answer to the question. I suspect that *most* Americans don't know why Americans are so bad at geography. But, unlike most Americans, I don't think she can say, "I don't know," and still be in the running to win her contest. So she feels that she has to speak when she doesn't have anything to say. And she just isn't very good at it yet :-(
-Mark Roulo
[Having said all this, I have also maliciously forwarded the YouTube link to friends with the heading, "They don't pick 'em for brains"]
Actually, this is more likely what happens when you freeze under pressure.
Do you think?
She seems pretty composed -- and she's been on camera for awhile I presume, since she's won the contest...
Are you thinking she's covering the fact that she's "frozen"?
(That could be - in fifth grade I "froze" during a piano recital. I got to a portion of the piece I was playing and simply could not remember any more of the notes. They were gone. I had to stop and ask the audience if they minded if I started over. I still remember it vividly, and I don't think I probably looked panicked, though I was.)
Having said all this, I have also maliciously forwarded the YouTube link to friends with the heading, "They don't pick 'em for brains"
ok, mark, that was malicious
I dunno.
This is pretty bad....she's got Iraq, South Africa, and the United States all jumbled up...
I don't think there's any level of freezing that could cause a semi-educated person to come up with an answer like this.
At least, I hope not.
I just love how she rounded it all up with "...our future". It was quite a little teen meltdown.
I just love how she rounded it all up with "...our future". It was quite a little teen meltdown.
This is really one of the most amazing things I've seen.
Wasn't there a possibility of stopping after she'd said many Americans don't own maps?
"Are you thinking she's covering the fact that she's 'frozen'?"
Mostly. She has been asked a question. She knows she has to answer it. She has *NO IDEA* what the answer is. She can't say, "I don't know." So ... she tries to say *SOMETHING* ... but doesn't make much sense.
Her first sentence or two sounds a lot like she was stalling for time hoping that her brain could come up with something coherent to say. It didn't :-(
-Mark Roulo
This is test prep gone bad.
You can hear her trying to fit her response, to which she doesn't know the answer, to a precanned format (tie in your answer to third world plight) and tried to include a bunch of buzz words (such as) to sound smart.
The results were disastrous.
Mostly. She has been asked a question. She knows she has to answer it. She has *NO IDEA* what the answer is.
yeah, but, she did come up with the idea that many Americans don't have maps....
I guess she has to talk for the whole minute?
You can hear her trying to fit her response, to which she doesn't know the answer, to a precanned format (tie in your answer to third world plight) and tried to include a bunch of buzz words (such as) to sound smart.
This reminds me of two years ago, when we had Christopher memorize a fuzzy-math response he could use on any questions he had no clue how to answer.
"I looked for a pattern and then I used a strategy of guess and check."
Why did she keep bringing up "South Africa"?
I'm thinking she may have meant South America.
I'm thinking she may have meant South America.
I have no idea why she kept talking about South Africa. Her response actually gave me a headache. Either way, we're talking acute geography illiteracy. It's sad, really.
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