A Soapbox Moment

Read my friends blog and watch the video here.

Let me start with how unimaginable it is to me that people can't locate out country on a map. What is wrong with our education system, our teachers, our parents, and our children? We happen to live in the greatest country on the map, and it disgusts me that people can walk around with such ignorance. Maybe it's because I was a geography major for a couple of years in college, or maybe it's just because I actually paid attention to what I was being taught... But not only can I find our country on a map, but I can label all fifty states correctly in less than five minutes. It only takes me that long because it takes a while to write the names of fifty places. But not only that, here's this. At work we have a USA Map wooden puzzle. The kids there have taken it apart so many times that I refuse to put it back together anymore, and there are a handful of 5 year olds in Kindergarden right now that can piece it back together correctly. Not only that, they know which one our state is, and they can point out the general vicinity of our county and town. Stay in the game people!

Now onto the beauty queen. Wow. If there was ever a poster child for the "brains over beauty" campaign, I think we just found her. I'm sure she was nervous, and I'll allow that disclaimer. However, maybe she wouldn't have been so nervous in discussing a educational issue if she actually had an education. Somehow this poor child jumped from finding America on a map to stumbling her way through our country's need of educating the helpless people of South Africa. I think we need to keep our education efforts here, starting with her. I'm going to assume that she could find America on a map if someone was holding a gun to her heard, but - just going with the odds here - I'm betting she wouldn't know where South Africa was if it jumped up to bite her.

I have been bothered for many years by the vast amounts of people I see in a day who are walking around in their ignorance. I assumed it was because I live in a small town, where most men choose farming over education, and most women choose industrial or domestic jobs over education. However, after seeing this video, I realize that the ignorance that annoys me is not localized to my area, but is so wide-spread across our land. I'm not sure if this comforts me or troubles me. And why don't we just get on national television and display our ignorance to the world? Because that makes so much sense. Maybe is she had been asked about how to properly choose the correct shade of lipstick she would have come across as the smartest girl on the planet... Heaven help us!