international stereotypes
Posted on | December 6, 2003 |
Stereotypes bother me. A lot. While I realize that they are used by the human brain to categorize and comprehend, I guess my inherent want to avoid being trapped in one is overriding. Take the Not All Americans Are Stupid Quiz, for example. Don’t be misled, however. The makers (believed to be a British company) are not out to prove Americans aren’t stupid, but more to prove that we are.
It is obviously not meant to be a serious study in American intelligence, but there are some pretty obvious paths for statistical error. Anyone can take the quiz more than once. The questions are somewhat random, so a person ends up getting a few of the same questions the second time around (I took it twice, just to see if I could). But, it wasn’t the quiz that was offensive, I can take a joke. I think it was more the perpetuation of the idea that American intelligence is subpar, and, thus, a stereotype.
I’m sure you all are wondering how I did on the quiz. Not as well as I would have liked. 11 of 20 on the first try and 15 of 20 the second, with only two questions repeating, and 17 of 20 the third, with three questions repeating. Here is the summary from my last try (I accidently ctrl + c’d over the first summary):
You have an impressive understanding of the world for an American. It is likely that you feel intellectually isolated in your home country, and often have to hide your opinions from others. Deep down, you realise that your country is the single biggest threat to world peace in modern times, but you have not yet summoned up the courage to emigrate.
Now I will give you the gist of the other summary. It told me that while I did relatively well for an American, it was only as well as that of the average school aged child in any other country. It said if I was an adult, that I should really try to read more books and learn more about the world. What?! OK, when I was the average school-aged child, I wouldn’t have missed any world history or literature questions. I knew that stuff inside and out when in junior high and high school. But things slip after awhile. I have focused on economics, business, and computer science so long that something has to give.
I guess I don’t want to be labeled ignorant because I knew the chemical symbol for lead, that kelvin is a measure of temperature, Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, and the Beaufort scale measured windspeed, but couldn’t remember the first club the Beatles played in.