Sorry to ruin your sunny Friday lunch. Get more depressed here.
Kelly O—formerly a Stranger staff photographer, music writer, Drunk of the Week columnist, and more!—finished art school and a soul-crushing internship at a corporate advertising agency in Detroit,... More by Kelly O
There is nothing depressing about that adorable interviewer.
*claps hands enthusiastically* Sexual Chocolate! Sexual Chocolate!
“i was never taught that knowledge.”
@4 That was my favorite bit, too.
I went to a small college that was ranked 25 in the nation for private, liberal arts colleges at the time. This is a real quote from a freshman in my class: “Canada. We own that, right?”
ALL the children left behind!
I have to admit, I went with Uganda and Uruguay without thinking of the USA. Also: “Canada. Oh wait, that’s a state.”
This is one of the reasons we should legalize pot. To try to keep it away from the kiddies until they’ve had a chance to grow their brains.
(I’m not saying any of those kids are stoners. It’s just that weed can slow learning and cognitive development at that age, and some of those kids could ill afford that.)
That was all kinds of depressing.
The girl wearing the gray shirt at the lunch table did pretty well.
I also thought of Uruguay, Uzbekistan, the Ukraine, and Uganda, but not the United States, and I’m a college graduate.
“Bin Laden” is an inspired guess for “Who is the Vice President?”.
Selective editing is a bitch, ain’t it.
Utopia?
@7, 12
Those kids should get bonus points for those answers. USA is easy, we [should] all know the name of our own country, but to look beyond is good.
I think the most annoying part is how smug the interviewer is.
“Canada? Oh wait, that’s a state isn’t it.”
I bet if you asked them when they weren’t in the presence of their peers, they would do much better. No one wants the be The Smart Kid, at least overtly.
I got 100% on the HuffPo test at the bottom of the article! Suck on THAT, No Child Left Behinders!
Who is the VP gets an answer of Bin Ladin? There were some bonehead answers (probably because they were flustered), but that one merited a thump on the head with the mic.
But the real question is “is our kids learning?”
What does the interviewer say at the very end there? “Also, my mom’s a wolf“?
I saw this at work and immediately had to ask my class the same questions (only altering the state in question). Thank Bob my kids did better (though 2 out of the 27 thought there were 51 stars on the flag too).
@9 this has nothing to do with mj. 0. it has everything to do with schools sucking and families that don’t know shit or care shit about anything beyond what’s spoon fed to them.
@23, “also, my mom’s a luuh–“. I think he said “lawyer” and the editing cut off the second half of the word.
@7, 12, 16, I also thought of Uruguay, Uzbekistan, the Ukraine, and Uganda, and was patting myself on the back….and then immediately got knocked off my high horse when I heard “United States” and realized that if that guy had caught me off-guard with the question, “what letter does our country’s name start with?”, I’d have thoughtlessly answered “A”, for America.
@19 There are people who DON’T want to be the smart kid? wtf.
I’m sure e-books will solve all of these problems….right?
Austin sure does have a pretty mouth.
Oh Did I mention I am pro-choice up to the 18th year? I think I have but wanted to repeat that.
Back in my high school days I would have known the answers to all of these; however I never would have been asked to be on the school TV program.
So, I imagine there is some bias in their selections. They didn’t ask any of my fellow fat, golf-playin’, Star Trek quoting band geeks to answer the questions.
I’m Canadian and I got all of these. I did answer Uruguay before USA though.
United States came to mind along with Uruguay and Union of South Africa (I just checked and now they call it Republic of S.A.) But for her to pull up Ukraine and Uzbekistan is awesome. Over all though, the entire thing was fun to watch but ultimately depressing. I can understand them not knowing some geography, but the Revolutionary War? We were taught that early along with George Washington, Ben Franklin, et al. I can remember learning state capitols in the 5th or 6th grade along with the whole discovery and conquest of the Americas. We had to know the Portuguese, Spanish, English and French explorers. Don’t they do this anymore?
That guy quizzing them has an incredibly long finger.
that’s olympia hs. one of the top schools in the country.
@29 (jimmy): I think what you were going for was, “Austin sure do got a purdy mouth.” (Cue “Dueling Banjos.”)
@30 (Cato the Younger Younger): You’re still not as pro-choice as the Jews, for whom abortion is permissible right up to the point their kids graduate from medical school.
@Everyone: I’m pretty sure it’s Uzbeki-beki-beki-stan-stan. And you all forgot the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
But seriously, guys, remember those literacy tests they used to use in the Deep South to prevent non-whites from registering to vote? Maybe we should bring them back, only make *everyone* take them.
Any ideas on where this 51 or 52 states thing is coming from? Very odd.
That right to trial by jury? Not lookin’ so good now, eh?
And yet 16 year olds are the first to figure out how to jailbreak an iPhone.
One of the things that old farts have never been able to figure out is that the younger generation develops skills that are relevant to their world, not yours.
Also, that Socrates quote from 500 BC: “Something something something, kids today are dumb, something, blah blah blah, and they have it so easy too. Blah blah.” Look it up if you don’t believe me.
I really want to smack that interviewer.