I am disappointed every single day. Forget asking people which countries border France, I know people who don't know which countries border their own country. Hell, I even know people who don't know the day the WW2 started/ended. Sure, you can get around it life without knowing these. It will cause you no harm, not knowing how the world works around you. Sure. But I would like to live in a world where people actually put some effort into their education,and not just openly boast around about not knowing stuff. Like it is a competition to be ignorant or something, I don't know.
I agree with the spirit and most of the letter of your comment. But....
Why is the day of the beginning and end of WW2 such a stand-out piece of trivia that you would expect every person who puts "some effort into their education" to know it? You say it as though you find it hard to believe that any responsible adult could lack this particular fact. For myself, I fancy that I know a lot of trivia, including a lot of war-history trivia, but I don't know the day of the year on which that war ended (in fact, the only war start/end date I can recall at the moment is the date of the WWI armistice, because my government reminds me every year).
More generally, I did not see a single question in the list in TFA that I would condemn a person for not knowing that particular question, although I definitely "would like to live in a world where people actually put some effort into their education", and in fact I see some practical value in knowing a lot of trivia.
EDIT: Wait, I just read your top-level comment. You believe that ALL of these questions are "common knowledge that an average human being should know"?? Did you read the list? The AVERAGE HUMAN BEING should know the third-smallest State in the United States of America?!? The average human being should know which country consumed the most tea before WWI? You think it's common knowledge (or was in 1921) who wrote "Home, Sweet Home", and the voltage of street cars, and Lincoln's birthplace, and the wood used in axe handles and kerosene barrels? Seriously? That is batshit insane.
Dude. Obviously you need to translate some of these question for modern times - it's hard to know who used most tea before WW2, but it's a fairly common statistic nowadays. Think about it for a second. At the time, when you actually had kerosene barrels laying around, you would know what there were made out of. There's nothing extraordinary to know where Lincoln was born. Home Sweet Home was only getting popular at the beginning of the 20th century, it's like asking somebody today whose slogan was "Change". Obviously everyone will answer Obama,but in a 100 years that will be of no meaning to anyone.
Sure, questions like the one about a lightest/heaviest wood is not so easy,but for a well educated person it should be of no issue. We have this issue nowadays where we don't remember anything - because our brains know that we don't need to. We are always a few clicks away from knowing anything we might need. We read an article and we don't actually remember any solid facts,because we know we can just come back and find them again. 100 years ago people were actually amazingly good with remembering shit, much much better than we are now. They would read something and that would stay in their brain.
WWI ended on the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. The dickhead statesmen came up with this time to make it memorable. Do you know the hour that any other war ended? Unless it was tied to a mnemonic? If you do, shut down your computer and get some fresh air.
Sure, questions like the one about a lightest/heaviest wood is not so easy,but for a well educated person it should be of no issue
Are you trolling? I'd make an honest bet that less than 1 percent of people holding masters degrees could answer this. People would just guess (incorrectly) mahogany and get on with their non-trivial business. Hell, forget 1 percent. Less than .01 percent more likely. Harvard graduates can't even tell you why we have seasons.
> Obviously you need to translate some of these question for modern times - it's hard to know who used most tea before WW2, but it's a fairly common statistic nowadays.
I was not aware that Edison survived past WW2... Maybe you need to review the facts a little more. FYI, generally, in the time period that this article was written, the war referred to the great war, aka WW1
I am not completely sure what countries bound France nor the exact date of D-Day, because I don't value rote learning of insignificant stuff. Memorization of random facts is as useless as knowing nothing. I would appreciate much more if you can talk at length about one single topic and if you understand it pretty well.
I do agree that some people boast about their ignorance but that is another problem entirely.
