Okay, just for fun here's an online European country tester. You just click on the map for the country you think is the one being asked.

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/euroquiz.html

I've linked to the European Quiz but other quizzes cover the other continents and states of the US.

Number 4 is a trick question.

Ukrainia and Romania have a common border.

Moldova is encompassed by Ukrania and Romania.

Hey,

I get a gold star - 111 points on the quiz.

111 - definitely a gold star for you Ira but where's Ukrainia?

:?

Errr... Ukrania?

Isn't that Ukraine or The Ukraine? Where did the 'ia' come from??

Dr D.

>why is [Belgian Endive] $4.00 a pound here(Socal),and 1 euro a kilo in France?<

Well, they have to fly it in from Belgium, don't they?

I once called the Hertz INTERNATIONAL desk for a rental quote. Wanted to pick it up at airport in Rome and return it to Venice.
He told me there would be a drop-off fee since I would be dropping it off in another country! It took some arguing to convince him that Venice was indeed in Italy. :(

I teach 4th grade in Chicago, and it seems to me that in the years before my students arrive in my room, they have had little geography training, which is due, in large part, to the emphasis on standardized tests. There isn't enough time in the day, some teachers feel, to teach them how to do basic math and the capitols of Latin America. So, they continue on, believing that they live in the continent of Chicago, the country of Illinois and that Mississippi is another country. If they were exposed regularly to maps, their curiosity would explode! Too bad we're expected to teach 3 hours of reading and 3 hours of math in a day that lasts 5 hours. Go figure.

I was once asked this question :

"What part of the United States is the island of Jamaica found?"

...I kid you not.

I got 94, not bad, huh?

By the way, how did you guys answered the first question - where is Kaliningrad? I know where it is, but Russia is not clickable... at least not on my computer!

I have been reading a lot about our local school systems.

In many elementary classrooms, history (and maybe geography) seem threatened with extinction. High-stakes tests are in reading and math, and now science. These are the subjects teachers work on first and most often because the children are tested on these subjects. The testing is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The "other" subjects are easy to ignore if they aren't tested. It's been reported that "time" for those subjects isn't specified, it's required teaching, but the time alloted may vary from city to city, town to town, etc.

What a loss for our children.

Faina, it's the little bit of land between Lithuania and Poland.

My sister lived in Idaho for 30 years. A woman at a convention asked her what state she was from and when she said "Idaho," the woman said, "where I come from, dear, we pronounce it Iowa."

>Faina, it's the little bit of land between Lithuania and Poland.
Why didn't you answer "Hometown of Kant!!!!"
Funny that this doesn't come to mind first, but "where" it is. It's not only geography ;-)

Oh, so I should've clicked on that tiny thingie, not on the large country! Hmmm... too bad I'm not a man, can't aim :)

About 10 years ago, our granddaughter was attending a Montessori kindergarten, and couldn't wait to show off her new knowledge of the continents.

Proudly she pointed at the map at said:

"This is Africa where the lions live. This is Asia where the pandas live. This is Australia where the kangaroos live. This is Antarctica, where..."

She pondered a bit, and then confidently continued.
"and this is where the ants live."

Of course, we loved it, and it's become a family joke.

Byrd

My 9th grader just finished AP Human Geography; the "non-AP" kids take World Geography. So yes, geography is required of 9th graders in Texas. Every so often they had a test of filling in a map of a certain region of the world. At the end of the year they had to fill in a map of every country. It was wild to quiz him on Africa and the former USSR...so many names have changed since I took geography.

Twenty some odd years ago when I was a young 2nd LT in the US Air Force, I was making a comment on Paris to several young Airmen, "one asked where is Paris?" Well I thought she was joking and started to laugh. I then realized that she had no idea where Paris was. After the Air Force I worked for a large department store and I was telling the store manager that I was going to visit my sister in Pittsburg (I was in New Jersey) She asked "Where is that?" Just recently I was play a game w/ my niece who is 22, my nephew who is 28, and his girlfriend also 28, all college grads from very good schools the clue was Mecca, no one knew where or what that was. After the game was over my niece said she really learned alot. It really is very sad.

>"What part of the United States is the island of Jamaica found?" <

Jamaica, Long Island, New York

>...when she said "Idaho," the woman said, "where I come from, dear, we pronounce it Iowa."<

Where I come from, we pronounce it "Ohio".

((I))

It's certainly become more difficult for the kids; there are much more countries in Europe now then when I went to school. At age 11 (don't know what grade that would be in the US) they did the European capitals; helping them with studying I learn a lot! Anyone know without looking up the capitals of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia?