Comments | widdertwin: Overheard at UBC

widdertwin

Overheard at UBC

Mar 13, 2011 19:20

I'm at Blenz in the Village, sitting at a table next to a flirty pair of first-year undergrads. They're making googly eyes at each other while talking about American history. I hadn't been paying any concentrated attention until I heard this come out of the girl ( Read more... )

Comments 9

tenou_k March 14 2011, 02:39:49 UTC

Oh no.

widdertwin March 14 2011, 23:05:29 UTC

Yeah, it wasn't cute. Not nearly as cute as those aforementioned ships.

indy_md March 14 2011, 05:51:39 UTC

it's not american history, it's european history (at universities) or world history. in grade 12 in BC the curriculum is european history and the text goes from just before WW1 to the end of the Cold War.

indy_md March 14 2011, 05:53:02 UTC

but that doesn't excuse her ignorance. if i was sitting there my coffee would have shot out my nose!

widdertwin March 14 2011, 23:05:01 UTC

Oh, man. Do I ever feel bloated and American! I'm glad you called me on the European history, you're totally right. I heard her mention something about Omaha Beach, which put me in US mode, but yeah, that's no excuse.

Better think a little longer before I shoot from the hip on an Americans-are-stupid rampage.

indy_md March 15 2011, 06:32:14 UTC

if it makes you feel any better, i don't know what Omaha Beach is!

eriktrips March 14 2011, 07:03:58 UTC

Have I mentioned that I am very, very, very concerned about the medium to long-term future of our great, ignorant culture? The things that people think are true would be funny if it weren't so alarming.

widdertwin March 14 2011, 23:07:30 UTC

You and me both, and the rest of the world should be too. I felt a bit old when I realized the kid talking was probably born during the Clinton administration. I've got a hunch that public elementary and secondary education in the US has declined even since I finished high school. It's a scary thought.

indy_md March 15 2011, 06:34:47 UTC

i have a friend who graduated from high school in texas and now goes to school with me, studying science. she supposedly took "AP" chemistry and didn't know how to balance an equation at the beginning of our first-year chem class. she has now gone back and done the college-version of Grade 12 sciences because she knows she missed too much by going to high school in texas.