[lbo-talk] friend, ally, whatever...

[Miles Jackson]

Chuck wrote:
> ravi wrote:
> 
>> Harris Poll. July 5-11, 2006. N=approx. 500 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.
>>
>> So, you think hmm... 54% think well of France and only 9% fell for the
>> "Freedom Fries" nonsense. Then you see this one: 18% consider S.Korea an
>> enemy! And 40% consider them not US friends at all. I am guessing they
>> see Korea and they think Kim Jong Il and the conditioner kicks in? 3%
>> think Norway is a US enemy?! Are you seeing as much paranoia as I am?
>>
>>     --ravi
> 
> 
> I'd like to see another component to this survey where the respondents 
> had to find these countries on a map.
> 
> Chuck

I know this is a fav example to point out the ignorance of the masses, 
but as a teacher, it strikes me as a pointless exercise, similar to 
memorizing all the U. S. state capitals or the names of all the U. S. 
Presidents.  There is a reason why we have reference books!  A much more 
meaningful assessment: sit people in a library with computer access and 
printed materials and say, "Show me three ways you could identify the 
location of Malaysia".  --As Carrol notes, we're eyeball deep in many 
different kinds of information; the crucial thing is to know how to find 

  relevant and useful data.  In an industrialized society, it's 
(practically) impossible to store all that data in your own long-term 
memory.

Miles