I am sure that most people absorb such knowledge on the fly rather than remembering it from their school days. Do I need to know the flag of the UAE in my daily life? Absolutely not. Do I happen to know how the livery of an Emirates plane looks like? How could I not? Their ads are everywhere.
I think the US education should put more focus on international events cos the biggest chunk of taxpayer goes to military budget to maintain the US global hegemony. Imagine losing trillions to Taliban but not even knowing where Afghanistan is.
They want you to be ignorant so they can continue doing their shi*t without their people's consent. If Americans are educated about the world, they won't be able to continue doing what they're doing globally.
The US education system does exactly what it is supposed to - it produces a mass of unquestioning people, who will act as a malleable workforce and consumers (who always want more, newer and bigger).
This probably won't mean anything to you, but knowing where a place is doesn't automatically mean you know anything about the place or its affairs. Sure a lot of people are less informed on both, but just pointing to it on a map means a lot less than a lot of people here seem to think. There are countries I've heard tidbits of information about, but still couldn't tell you where they are exactly on a map. In a similar way, it's hard to put my finger on it, but this seems to be oversimplifying or conflating things. It gives me vibes of how sometimes people hate employees of a corporation that did something unpopular, even though said employees were internally openly against it, but a lot of people just think "COMPANY BAD, U WITH COMPANY, U BAD". There's a lot of people and a lot of moving parts, it seems extremely dishonest (particularly for the reply) to act like the education system is somehow missing things on purpose for such a specific and nefarious goal. It doesn't feel as though it came about through logical thinking, but through pessimism or negative feelings. Also to mention vietnam is interesting, considering there was famously a HUGE backlash over it. Like historically significant event, not just some people got mad. ALSO, I don't need to know where a country is on a map to know I don't want it blown up or something.
Yeah, you said it Ryan. The questions were in a foreign language for the Europeans. Imagine they turn it around and ask the questions in Swedish, Spanish, French and German. The US girls would be soooo lost. And multiple choice is no proof of intelligence, it's guessing game which is mostly used in the US for tests. No learning effect.
When I was teaching, I am proud to say I never offered True/False or Multiple Choice. These types of tests can be passed by people who have not worked one iota - good guessing is not the same as knowledgeable, and I, for one, do not want to live in a country where everyone is guessing every day. Other test forms are more difficult to grade but reveal the amount of knowledge and reasoning a student has. I know this is an unpopular opinion, even among teachers, but everyone has to decide with which standards one wishes to live.
I thought multiple choice are used everywhere. Honestly, a lot of the questions in tests I had in school were like that, which did help me pass in most subjects. (yeah, I'm not the smartest)
@@buddys_dad I fully agree. A person could reasonably guess their way to a perfect score whilst not knowing the answer to a single question. I don't agree with multiple choice at all.
The game format with the bell is very unfair. They should have tablets and write the answers down, show them at the same time. Also equal number of contestants. If you can't get 4 americans, don't take 4 europeans.
So having 4 participants who speak English as a second or third language is not fair on the two English speaking US Americans, is also very unfair. Perhap they should have asked the questions in the home language of each, like 1 section in German, then 1 in English, then 1 in French, then 1 in English, then 1 in Spanish, then 1 in English, then 1 in Swedish, then 1 in English, to give them a more balanced chance? I think the girls from the US would lose by even more. I agree about the bell though. Just make both answer, write it down, then show the result.
Only one participant was answering questions at a time. So it doesn't matter how many there were. But also, of course it makes sense that there's more Europeans to represent the continent a little better given that Europe has dozens of countries and the US is only one.
Important to remember : those girls are NOT representative of their countries. It's a channel all about different languages and cultures around the world so they are all well-travelled and often know multiple languages. I think it's even shot in South Korea.
@@persel_hd lol, i got ask questions by Americans, i couldnt answer.... because they never had understood my answer, being from Europe! one time, i been invited to BBQ with my brother in law in the USA, one of the guests been a guy who ask me a lot of questions, about me and my BIL.... i stopped answering his questions very early... he been a cop and tried to find some things about us to call ICE! because we both are not Americans, he Latino and me European!
I don't think that show was recorded in the US. It kind of resembles some game shows I've seen from South Korea. So, the Americans who are participating obviously wouldn't be the stereotypical Americans who have never left their country and who have no idea about the outside world.
do u mean the World Friends channel? been watching a few of those lately but yes theyre Americans living in South Korea studying i think on those shows
Hey Ryan, Brazilian viewer here. Since most of your videos are about Europe vs America, may I suggest a video about what Americans know about Latin / South America? That would be interesting for a change....
i'm italian and red English as fast as italian, and the reason is that i've been reading manga in english since i was in middle school, nothing to do with traditional education 🤣
German, living in Germany for all but 10 months of my life! 6 months in the USA, over 1 month NZ and 3 months Peru! the poorest people i met, i met in the USA, also the dumbest! in Peru, most the people i met had a much better education to me, bit i still earned up to 10 times their wages... NZ, a country with barley any history and a drug problem!
@@luigimanzelli3786 Lots of people know their English from gaming. The vocabulary might be a bit strange and probable not very usable in everyday life, but we do learn through gaming :)
Come on, Ryan. Norway? They all have the nordic cross. Watch yourself some Olafur Waage. And, yes, even if yo are very fluent in a language, reading is still seriously slowed down.
I agree, though I think you CAN get fast with it, just like you could get good with your non-dominant hand, but it might take some doing. Also I think some languages just read faster in general, but that's not really relevant in this case I guess. For example just to see and take in a whole big long German word I think has a disadvantage compared to something with very short, simple words
Meh, not really though. I read English and Spanish as fast as I read Portuguese (mother tongue). It's a matter of how much you practice it. For example, with French I'm terribly slow because I'm still learning it and don't have the practice or knowledge yet.
@@bernaspah It also really depends what script you're used to. I could read "Фридрих Ницше" but it would certainly take me longer to decipher it than "Friedrich Nietzsche".
I went to school in the poorest state in the United States, and all of the information was there, in the classroom and in the schoolbooks. The difference was whether one was interested in things or not. I was very interested because since I wasn't completely American, I knew that there was more to the world. My classmates didn't have a clue and most of them didn't care.
You are either a US American or you're not. If you were born in the US, then you are a US American (to the rest of the world), if you moved to the US, you are from the country you were born in, even if you later became a US citizen.
@@Thurgosh_OG thats just a legal observation not a cultural. If you have like Japanese parents but are born in the US you were still raised differently
Flag of Poland: upper half white, lower half red Flag of Indonesia and flag of Monaco: upper half red, lower half white The latter two flags differ in proportions, the flag of Monaco being closer to quadratic.
@@DaweSlayer Well actually Katakana and Hiragana aren't really different systems. They are just different representations of the same thing. A bit like upper case and lower case.
But if you drive 8 hours in Australia you're still in the same country, but on average I think most Australians would have a better idea of what the world is like in a general sense.
Regarding the reading speed, sometimes it is on par with the native language (say, one may be able to read English and German at the same speed) but both may not be as quickly absorbed as from someone who only knows one language, because they learned both languages early on.
Confusing but I actually knew all the answers😂im finn. Ryan's reactions and facial expressions are Incredibly hilarious😂 At least the sense of humour has been preserved even though these europe vs. U.S. videos have had to witness a lot👍
That quiz indicates that faster people (to hit the bell) are smarter. Not the best way to test intelligence, and there are probably lot's of people who know the flags of the world but are still a few fries short of a happy meal. Europeans and (North) Americans are most likely on the same intelligence level, it's the education they were offered that sets them apart. That's a domain that leaves much to be desired in the US and it doesn't seem it'll improve any time soon. A few things I noticed in the past 4 years, living in the US: 1) Sport is more important than knowledge. "Mens sana in corpore sano" but they often neglect the first part. 2) The quality varies from state to state, each with their own curriculum standards. Often schools are funded based on (local) property tax which favors wealthier neighborhoods. 3) College students who paid the tuition and don't drop out almost always get their degree. You basically get what you pay for. Fixing these issues will get you a long way. Americans aren't dumb, they merely don't know any better.
Happy new year Ryan and your family from down here in Tamworth(NSW)🇦🇺 to all the way up there in Indiana 🇺🇸 via a comment , your the only reactionary video worth watching honestly, can’t wait for your reaction for our new years fireworks you won’t be disappointed I promise. Love your work mate. 🍻
This is my thesis on the "America is stupid" trend: First things first, there are some general knowledge gaps that the majority of Americans seem to hold because it's not a focus of their education, mainly international of course. Additionally it seems there's some beliefs/culture baked in that people would colloquially call stupid, like the whole live to work mentality. I think, if there is any physical brain difference factor at all, it is negligible. The general knowledge gaps I mentioned aside, I think you can find incredibly educated and incredibly uneducated Americans, and that being incredibly uneducated leads to statements that make people consider you stupid, whether you physically are stupid or whether you were just never taught something. A likely large difference maker is that I believe which school you go to can completely change everything about your education to make you tons more educated than you would've been. Compared to Europe, or at least to Belgium, I have never heard parents consider quality of education in choosing any school. Main considations for school are whether it's close enough that the kid can learn how to get there and back on his own and if the teachers are nice people (not for times sake, but for making the kid independent. They made me follow my older brother to school on bike at some point in elementary school and it taught me to be self-sufficient to the point that when I went to middle school further away at 12 I was going on bike by myself from the start and me and my friends where doing things like freely meeting up, going to the movies, hanging out in a park near the school. Pretty much once you learn to get to school and back consistently, you gain the freedom and responsibility to be able to go to friends houses etc etc safely.)
It's not just an education gap, it's an information gap in general. Watch "How America Got So Stupid". Aside from the title, it's a good explanation of how media protectionism is preventing Americans from learning about the "outside world".
@@to_loww yeah fair, I did see that but didn't put the emphasis on that it needed and it's bunched in with the culture, but yes the active effort to make sure only the American perspective was imported to America played an instrumental role, and without doing that they probably couldn't even keep their education systems that devoid of international information
I think an important element to explain why he americans "look" stupid seen from abroad is also their overconfidence. They tend to affirm things with confidence even when they have no clue at all. At least they do it way more than any other county from what I saw. So even whith a similar amount of knowledge they will look dumber than someone just admitting he don't know.
Ok in that video if it's about who knows best I'd have asked both groups and then say who was right instead of the bell game where it only shows who is faster ....
The european lady contestant on the flag category even said The Philippines which is the correct way to refer to that country. Very correct and propers!
If American think that answering questions about other things outside the USA is too hard, maybe answering topics that related to their homeland is easier, isn't it?😅😅😅🐧🐧🐧
When I was junior year of highschool, we got a new class mate. She was in American schools from grade 4 to sufamor year. Then the family moved back home. She was top of the class in the us. Straight As. They tried to enroll her to gifted class, but because that class was full, she ended in our regular class. We were kind of intimidated, because such a smart person was joining. Enough said, she barely passed junior year. Teachers even gifted her some Ds just so she wouldn't fail. She did not finish high school in the end. I do not want to sh* over her, but it did tell us US schools are not what we were told.
When US Americans use terms, no one else uses, like Sophomore, we tend to have to check on what that means in our terms, so which country are you from, to make this make more sense please?
I often mix it up myself flags of Poland, Indonesia, Monaco and Malta mixed up. Well, Malta has vertical stripes so that makes it easier. Actually, there aren't many stupid people, there are just ignorant ones. A stupid person tries with finger a third time to see if the circular saw blade is really spinning. On the other hand, many Americans are good at pointing out their ignorance and are even proud of it.
As someone who really loves Geography and world knowledge- I think Ryan's knowledge is pretty impressive for an American. I do not think Americans are stupid. Most of the brightest minds and greatest inventors were American. On average, I would not call them stupid... just less knowledgable regarding world affairs.
Me guessing Poland then thought "heck no Poland is white first so it must be Monaco" To be fair, Monaco and Indonesia are actually identical besides Monaco beeing a little bit shorter.
We used to play games in Austria when I was a kid where we had to find city names, countries, rivers etc. for each letter of the alphabets as quickly as we could - at 12/15 yrs old
True intelligence is seen when the ability to solve problems is tested. Here in Finland, everyone who has been in the army has done " palikka testi". Something like that brick test translated into English😂 I, too, have been put to that test. Print I will not tell 😅
Americans often use the size of their country as an excuse for their lack of knowledge of other cultures. Ofcourse you're not as close to other countries and cultures as Europeans, but then ... you can educate yourself on who dates the youngest cardashian .... why not educate yourself on other countries?
There is a lot of truth to that, though. Someone in the UK can just go to France, the Netherlands, or Germany for the weekend and be able to experience and different culture and language. It's much harder for an American to do that for (at least) three big reasons: -Even the nearest countries to the US can be pretty far away, depending on where in the US you live; the distance between New York City and Chicago is greater than the distance between Paris and Berlin, so driving is much of an option (not to mention that there's, unfortunately, not huge number of countries nearby that are politically and civilly stable) -Flying (as is simply traveling in general) is expensive, and considering what was stated in previous reason, it's kinda the only option for any American looking to travel abroad; again, American's can't take a trip to Amsterdam for the weekend. -Most American's just don't have the free time to be able to travel much at all, let alone abroad. American's aren't guaranteed by national law to have paid time off, Americans are just at the mercy of their employer if they get *any* time off, let alone *_paid_* time off. I'm an American, and don't even know (nor give a shit) who the youngest Kardashian is, let alone who she's dating. I also would absolutely wreak most people at a geography quiz bowl thing like this, including Europeans and other non-Americans.
@@Molue_ Thats a false excuse. You have access to internet. You will learn way more about the world by just reading the news and doing some quick searches than by staying a weekend in a random foreign town. A lot of europeans don't travel either, or they may visit a one or two neightbouring countries but thats it. I'm learning german and I have a certain understanding of Germany's geography and history whithout ever putting a foot in it. Same goes for the USA.
Global Earth is a TH-cam channel with lots of people from different countries who are living in South Korea. Some of them are studying and/or modelling and they are very good representatives of their own countries. There is another channel called World Friends, which is related to this one and sometimes you see people from World Friends on Global Earth and vice-versa. Very interesting channels to watch if you want to learn more about different languages and cultures.
I'm from the UK and I'm pretty sure I could place every single US state on a map, might struggle with the New England states but other than that it's easy. I'm also pretty sure I could name the state by the flag for at least 5 states. I'd get pretty lost when it gets to the plethora of just blue flags with something in the middle.
As an Australia, I think we have a lot of similarities with Americans: big country, far from other countries, lots of immigrants from all over the world, but I get the feeling Australians are more travelled and have a better understanding of the world. I don't know of any statistics to back that up. I have just lived in Australia for most of my life but have spent time in several parts of the USA and it is the impression I have developed.
Starting about 2000 public schools and universities began graduating students with little to no knowledge of actual social studies, geography and history. Society is now reaping the results.
You colonised the Philippines, you should know 😅 German is my first, French is my second, English my third language, and Spanish my fourth (although I’m only fluent in the first three). While I’d say my English is C1-C2, I read slower than natives. In French the same. I’m not a slow reader but in quizzes like this one, you definitely notice the difference.
In Switzerland, English will be your 3rd or 4th language. i.E. Although Swiss German is considered a dialect, it’s still so different from German that I consider German my 1st foreign language. Then we learn French and *then* English. Swiss French and Swiss Italian aren’t the same as French and Italian either, although I guess French is closer. And of course those that have Rumatsch as their first language also learn German, French and then English, AFAIK.
General knowledge, such as geography, history and the world around you, among other things... is what differentiates an educated person from one who is not... By the way, mental agility is a characteristic of intelligence.
I think that we can read as fast in foreign language as in our own language, its just about how much time we've been learning the other language. I m lazy :) but when I care to not be lazy, :) I can read a book in Polish and in English at the same time - for example a day.
I think people miss understand the meaning smart . I call this Knowledge , culture , be informed more than smart....and thats its what you recive on your first 20 y of your existence....and it continues to grow based on your interest.
Hey, flags are difficult. I'm in the EU, know a lot of international differences, some from your cool videos, but not even I know all EU flags. I recognize our Czech one, Chinese, Japanese, American, German, British, but then it starts to be difficult.
Ask elementary school questions in English to find out whether French, Swedish or German people are quicker to answer, find the mistake! Even if the question is clear, the foreign language gets in the way. Take the test in German or Swedish! LOL
intelligence and education are two different kind of thinks. The only stupied thing about the test is the test, but still fun to watch. But no messurment for anything at all
What is considered “general knowledge’ is biased. If you were on an airplane that crashed in the Amazon, would you follow someone with an MBA and an IQ of 145 or 12 year old girl who could not add but has survived in the area. What is important to know depends upon the opinion of the surveyors.
Americans don't learn anything from other countries in school. Here in Africa, we are forced to learn things from other countries in Geography, Civil education, History, literature etc. Even things we don't need.
All of these kids in this video is studying and live in South Korea so i guess this is not a typical European or US kids! Ask the same questions in either Europe or the US the difference will be even a bigger win for the Europeans beacause of the terrible state of the education system in the US these days!
Writing systems and flags are not important but in today's world I think it's important to know somethings about the geography and cultures world wide. You will meet people from xy countries and it's good thing to know something about the cultures, not offer beef to indians, pork to arabs and these kind of things.
![American reacts to: American's Can't Answer Simple Questions [part 5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/J9iXtCXH6rg/mqdefault.jpg)
My son knows every flag from playing fifa and football games on his PlayStation, not from school
That's so real. I've learnt way more from gaming than the education system.
@@TrippyPanda18 that is sad but funny also
I am sure that most people absorb such knowledge on the fly rather than remembering it from their school days.
Do I need to know the flag of the UAE in my daily life? Absolutely not.
Do I happen to know how the livery of an Emirates plane looks like? How could I not? Their ads are everywhere.
@@lorenzsabbaer7725 just shows you how shit the education system actually is. I don't find it funny
Useless info.
I think the US education should put more focus on international events cos the biggest chunk of taxpayer goes to military budget to maintain the US global hegemony. Imagine losing trillions to Taliban but not even knowing where Afghanistan is.
You know they are not losing most of that money, they reinvest it to their war companies... general knowledge you should know by now
They want you to be ignorant so they can continue doing their shi*t without their people's consent.
If Americans are educated about the world, they won't be able to continue doing what they're doing globally.
Or Vietnam.
The US education system does exactly what it is supposed to - it produces a mass of unquestioning people, who will act as a malleable workforce and consumers (who always want more, newer and bigger).
This probably won't mean anything to you, but knowing where a place is doesn't automatically mean you know anything about the place or its affairs. Sure a lot of people are less informed on both, but just pointing to it on a map means a lot less than a lot of people here seem to think. There are countries I've heard tidbits of information about, but still couldn't tell you where they are exactly on a map.
In a similar way, it's hard to put my finger on it, but this seems to be oversimplifying or conflating things. It gives me vibes of how sometimes people hate employees of a corporation that did something unpopular, even though said employees were internally openly against it, but a lot of people just think "COMPANY BAD, U WITH COMPANY, U BAD". There's a lot of people and a lot of moving parts, it seems extremely dishonest (particularly for the reply) to act like the education system is somehow missing things on purpose for such a specific and nefarious goal.
It doesn't feel as though it came about through logical thinking, but through pessimism or negative feelings.
Also to mention vietnam is interesting, considering there was famously a HUGE backlash over it. Like historically significant event, not just some people got mad.
ALSO, I don't need to know where a country is on a map to know I don't want it blown up or something.
Yeah, you said it Ryan. The questions were in a foreign language for the Europeans. Imagine they turn it around and ask the questions in Swedish, Spanish, French and German. The US girls would be soooo lost. And multiple choice is no proof of intelligence, it's guessing game which is mostly used in the US for tests. No learning effect.
When I was teaching, I am proud to say I never offered True/False or Multiple Choice. These types of tests can be passed by people who have not worked one iota - good guessing is not the same as knowledgeable, and I, for one, do not want to live in a country where everyone is guessing every day. Other test forms are more difficult to grade but reveal the amount of knowledge and reasoning a student has. I know this is an unpopular opinion, even among teachers, but everyone has to decide with which standards one wishes to live.
Not to mention the bell. Ringing in first doesn't make you smarter... just faster.
But then again: All the questions being about geography certainly doesn't favour the Americans.
I thought multiple choice are used everywhere. Honestly, a lot of the questions in tests I had in school were like that, which did help me pass in most subjects. (yeah, I'm not the smartest)
@@buddys_dad I fully agree. A person could reasonably guess their way to a perfect score whilst not knowing the answer to a single question. I don't agree with multiple choice at all.
The game format with the bell is very unfair. They should have tablets and write the answers down, show them at the same time. Also equal number of contestants. If you can't get 4 americans, don't take 4 europeans.
And don't forget about changing the language of the questions etc. to another language to make it more fair :-)
So having 4 participants who speak English as a second or third language is not fair on the two English speaking US Americans, is also very unfair. Perhap they should have asked the questions in the home language of each, like 1 section in German, then 1 in English, then 1 in French, then 1 in English, then 1 in Spanish, then 1 in English, then 1 in Swedish, then 1 in English, to give them a more balanced chance? I think the girls from the US would lose by even more. I agree about the bell though. Just make both answer, write it down, then show the result.
Only one participant was answering questions at a time. So it doesn't matter how many there were. But also, of course it makes sense that there's more Europeans to represent the continent a little better given that Europe has dozens of countries and the US is only one.
Yeah, it's not fair that the US got more contestants than the other countries =P
Important to remember : those girls are NOT representative of their countries. It's a channel all about different languages and cultures around the world so they are all well-travelled and often know multiple languages. I think it's even shot in South Korea.
And yet I'm embrased, that the eropeans didn't know Argentina's flag XD
Or the spanish woman beeing a sore looser
@@persel_hd lol, i got ask questions by Americans, i couldnt answer....
because they never had understood my answer, being from Europe!
one time, i been invited to BBQ with my brother in law in the USA,
one of the guests been a guy who ask me a lot of questions, about me and my BIL....
i stopped answering his questions very early...
he been a cop and tried to find some things about us to call ICE!
because we both are not Americans, he Latino and me European!
I don't think that show was recorded in the US. It kind of resembles some game shows I've seen from South Korea. So, the Americans who are participating obviously wouldn't be the stereotypical Americans who have never left their country and who have no idea about the outside world.
It is filmed in South Korea indeed
do u mean the World Friends channel? been watching a few of those lately but yes theyre Americans living in South Korea studying i think on those shows
@@judsdragon Yes, that one sounds familiar, so it's at least one of the ones I've watched.
its Korean
Hey Ryan, Brazilian viewer here. Since most of your videos are about Europe vs America, may I suggest a video about what Americans know about Latin / South America? That would be interesting for a change....
Not sure on that one, but I'm definitely sure they wouldn't know much.
i talked to an US tourist in Lima, he never knew that South America would be more south than Florida!
I am a Greek woman. I lived in England the last 26 years. I still am, much slower, reading English than my own language.
i'm italian and red English as fast as italian, and the reason is that i've been reading manga in english since i was in middle school, nothing to do with traditional education 🤣
Kudos to you - imagine Americans not only having to learn another language, but another alphabet...
German, living in Germany for all but 10 months of my life!
6 months in the USA, over 1 month NZ and 3 months Peru!
the poorest people i met, i met in the USA, also the dumbest!
in Peru, most the people i met had a much better education to me, bit i still earned up to 10 times their wages...
NZ, a country with barley any history and a drug problem!
@@luigimanzelli3786 Lots of people know their English from gaming. The vocabulary might be a bit strange and probable not very usable in everyday life, but we do learn through gaming :)
Come on, Ryan. Norway? They all have the nordic cross. Watch yourself some Olafur Waage.
And, yes, even if yo are very fluent in a language, reading is still seriously slowed down.
I agree, though I think you CAN get fast with it, just like you could get good with your non-dominant hand, but it might take some doing. Also I think some languages just read faster in general, but that's not really relevant in this case I guess. For example just to see and take in a whole big long German word I think has a disadvantage compared to something with very short, simple words
Meh, not really though. I read English and Spanish as fast as I read Portuguese (mother tongue). It's a matter of how much you practice it. For example, with French I'm terribly slow because I'm still learning it and don't have the practice or knowledge yet.
@@bernaspah It also really depends what script you're used to.
I could read "Фридрих Ницше" but it would certainly take me longer to decipher it than "Friedrich Nietzsche".
Happy New Year from norway 😊 and a little tip, all the nordic flag has a cross 😉
My guess for the Indonesian flag was Poland. Why? Well, if you turn Polish flag upside down, what do you get?
Monaco
@@MagicMoshroom Yes, because their flag is Dark Red over white.
I am from Poland so I know which country has flag upside down 😂
I also thought Poland haahha I didn't know the Indonesian one ahhaha
same here
I went to school in the poorest state in the United States, and all of the information was there, in the classroom and in the schoolbooks. The difference was whether one was interested in things or not. I was very interested because since I wasn't completely American, I knew that there was more to the world. My classmates didn't have a clue and most of them didn't care.
You are either a US American or you're not. If you were born in the US, then you are a US American (to the rest of the world), if you moved to the US, you are from the country you were born in, even if you later became a US citizen.
@@Thurgosh_OG thats just a legal observation not a cultural.
If you have like Japanese parents but are born in the US you were still raised differently
@@Thurgosh_OG So if you are born in foreign country to USA but your parents are US citizens, then you are not US American?
Flag of Poland: upper half white, lower half red
Flag of Indonesia and flag of Monaco: upper half red, lower half white
The latter two flags differ in proportions, the flag of Monaco being closer to quadratic.
12:00 Japanese has 3 writing systems, so it's even more confusing.
Four if you count latin script.
@@to_loww Can u not make it eeeven worse :D
@@DaweSlayer Well actually Katakana and Hiragana aren't really different systems.
They are just different representations of the same thing. A bit like upper case and lower case.
Ignorance is correctable, stupidity not so much.
But if you drive 8 hours in Australia you're still in the same country, but on average I think most Australians would have a better idea of what the world is like in a general sense.
Regarding the reading speed, sometimes it is on par with the native language (say, one may be able to read English and German at the same speed) but both may not be as quickly absorbed as from someone who only knows one language, because they learned both languages early on.
Also there are slow and fast readers
Confusing but I actually knew all the answers😂im finn. Ryan's reactions and facial expressions are Incredibly hilarious😂 At least the sense of humour has been preserved even though these europe vs. U.S. videos have had to witness a lot👍
That quiz indicates that faster people (to hit the bell) are smarter. Not the best way to test intelligence, and there are probably lot's of people who know the flags of the world but are still a few fries short of a happy meal. Europeans and (North) Americans are most likely on the same intelligence level, it's the education they were offered that sets them apart. That's a domain that leaves much to be desired in the US and it doesn't seem it'll improve any time soon. A few things I noticed in the past 4 years, living in the US:
1) Sport is more important than knowledge. "Mens sana in corpore sano" but they often neglect the first part.
2) The quality varies from state to state, each with their own curriculum standards. Often schools are funded based on (local) property tax which favors wealthier neighborhoods.
3) College students who paid the tuition and don't drop out almost always get their degree. You basically get what you pay for.
Fixing these issues will get you a long way. Americans aren't dumb, they merely don't know any better.
Happy new year Ryan and your family from down here in Tamworth(NSW)🇦🇺 to all the way up there in Indiana 🇺🇸 via a comment , your the only reactionary video worth watching honestly, can’t wait for your reaction for our new years fireworks you won’t be disappointed I promise. Love your work mate. 🍻
Hey Ryan, I’ve enjoyed that, as always, love your work,
you are sooooo cool 😎
Happy new year 🎊
Big difference between stupidity and ignorance
This is my thesis on the "America is stupid" trend:
First things first, there are some general knowledge gaps that the majority of Americans seem to hold because it's not a focus of their education, mainly international of course. Additionally it seems there's some beliefs/culture baked in that people would colloquially call stupid, like the whole live to work mentality.
I think, if there is any physical brain difference factor at all, it is negligible. The general knowledge gaps I mentioned aside, I think you can find incredibly educated and incredibly uneducated Americans, and that being incredibly uneducated leads to statements that make people consider you stupid, whether you physically are stupid or whether you were just never taught something.
A likely large difference maker is that I believe which school you go to can completely change everything about your education to make you tons more educated than you would've been.
Compared to Europe, or at least to Belgium, I have never heard parents consider quality of education in choosing any school.
Main considations for school are whether it's close enough that the kid can learn how to get there and back on his own and if the teachers are nice people
(not for times sake, but for making the kid independent. They made me follow my older brother to school on bike at some point in elementary school and it taught me to be self-sufficient to the point that when I went to middle school further away at 12 I was going on bike by myself from the start and me and my friends where doing things like freely meeting up, going to the movies, hanging out in a park near the school. Pretty much once you learn to get to school and back consistently, you gain the freedom and responsibility to be able to go to friends houses etc etc safely.)
It's not just an education gap, it's an information gap in general.
Watch "How America Got So Stupid". Aside from the title, it's a good explanation of how media protectionism is preventing Americans from learning about the "outside world".
@@to_loww yeah fair, I did see that but didn't put the emphasis on that it needed and it's bunched in with the culture, but yes the active effort to make sure only the American perspective was imported to America played an instrumental role, and without doing that they probably couldn't even keep their education systems that devoid of international information
I think an important element to explain why he americans "look" stupid seen from abroad is also their overconfidence. They tend to affirm things with confidence even when they have no clue at all. At least they do it way more than any other county from what I saw. So even whith a similar amount of knowledge they will look dumber than someone just admitting he don't know.
You should give one more point to the European team, they are doing this in a foreign language for them
Happy the upcoming year 2025 everyone ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉
Supposed to be general knowledge and all the questions were geography.
Ok in that video if it's about who knows best I'd have asked both groups and then say who was right instead of the bell game where it only shows who is faster ....
The european lady contestant on the flag category even said The Philippines which is the correct way to refer to that country. Very correct and propers!
If American think that answering questions about other things outside the USA is too hard, maybe answering topics that related to their homeland is easier, isn't it?😅😅😅🐧🐧🐧
You really don’t want to compare our math scores with the rest of the world.
After watching Ryan for years, I thought he could no longer surprise me. And yet I was wrong. He surprised me once again.
When I was junior year of highschool, we got a new class mate. She was in American schools from grade 4 to sufamor year. Then the family moved back home. She was top of the class in the us. Straight As. They tried to enroll her to gifted class, but because that class was full, she ended in our regular class. We were kind of intimidated, because such a smart person was joining. Enough said, she barely passed junior year. Teachers even gifted her some Ds just so she wouldn't fail. She did not finish high school in the end.
I do not want to sh* over her, but it did tell us US schools are not what we were told.
thats actually interesting feels bad for her tho
What country? If I may ask?
When US Americans use terms, no one else uses, like Sophomore, we tend to have to check on what that means in our terms, so which country are you from, to make this make more sense please?
We also had an American exchange student. She failed every class including English and she was the only native speaker.
@@donuseeisee6465 Slovenia
I often mix it up myself flags of Poland, Indonesia, Monaco and Malta mixed up. Well, Malta has vertical stripes so that makes it easier.
Actually, there aren't many stupid people, there are just ignorant ones. A stupid person tries with finger a third time to see if the circular saw blade is really spinning.
On the other hand, many Americans are good at pointing out their ignorance and are even proud of it.
What is tested here is education, not "stupidity" (aka intelligence).
Poland's flag is Indonesia's flag but upside-down, so Poland wasn't a terrible guess
Ignorance doesn't equal stupidity.
None of the questions were Europe or USA related. (as stated in the opening), so Norway, Poland or Greece were never an answer.
"Smart" isn't about what you know, its about what you do and say. Now THAT is a smart thing I just said!
Hi Ryan, what language is this and what am i saying?? Ek hou van jou kanaal, lag my gat af vir jou.
As someone who really loves Geography and world knowledge- I think Ryan's knowledge is pretty impressive for an American. I do not think Americans are stupid. Most of the brightest minds and greatest inventors were American. On average, I would not call them stupid... just less knowledgable regarding world affairs.
"it's just a game, guys"
While it's true, it's that spirit you called being salty is what helped Europeans conquer pretty much the whole planet.
After the : " she sound salty " .... you know Ryan get personal when he use the slow motion to check the bell. 😅
Me guessing Poland then thought "heck no Poland is white first so it must be Monaco"
To be fair, Monaco and Indonesia are actually identical besides Monaco beeing a little bit shorter.
We used to play games in Austria when I was a kid where we had to find city names, countries, rivers etc. for each letter of the alphabets as quickly as we could - at 12/15 yrs old
It's called "Categories" in English. In German literally "City, Country, River". So it's expected that there is some geography in there.
@to_loww yeah, I guessed it exists in other countries/languages, too.
True intelligence is seen when the ability to solve problems is tested. Here in Finland, everyone who has been in the army has done " palikka testi". Something like that brick test translated into English😂 I, too, have been put to that test. Print I will not tell 😅
Americans often use the size of their country as an excuse for their lack of knowledge of other cultures. Ofcourse you're not as close to other countries and cultures as Europeans, but then ... you can educate yourself on who dates the youngest cardashian .... why not educate yourself on other countries?
There is a lot of truth to that, though.
Someone in the UK can just go to France, the Netherlands, or Germany for the weekend and be able to experience and different culture and language.
It's much harder for an American to do that for (at least) three big reasons:
-Even the nearest countries to the US can be pretty far away, depending on where in the US you live; the distance between New York City and Chicago is greater than the distance between Paris and Berlin, so driving is much of an option (not to mention that there's, unfortunately, not huge number of countries nearby that are politically and civilly stable)
-Flying (as is simply traveling in general) is expensive, and considering what was stated in previous reason, it's kinda the only option for any American looking to travel abroad; again, American's can't take a trip to Amsterdam for the weekend.
-Most American's just don't have the free time to be able to travel much at all, let alone abroad. American's aren't guaranteed by national law to have paid time off, Americans are just at the mercy of their employer if they get *any* time off, let alone *_paid_* time off.
I'm an American, and don't even know (nor give a shit) who the youngest Kardashian is, let alone who she's dating. I also would absolutely wreak most people at a geography quiz bowl thing like this, including Europeans and other non-Americans.
@@Molue_ Thats a false excuse. You have access to internet. You will learn way more about the world by just reading the news and doing some quick searches than by staying a weekend in a random foreign town. A lot of europeans don't travel either, or they may visit a one or two neightbouring countries but thats it. I'm learning german and I have a certain understanding of Germany's geography and history whithout ever putting a foot in it. Same goes for the USA.
@@justeunfan3364 It seems like you didn't even read my comment in full...
Ryan: Happy New Year to you and yours. All the best for 2025
11:25 "Opening my eyes to some ignorance I didn't know I had" 😂😂
Global Earth is a TH-cam channel with lots of people from different countries who are living in South Korea. Some of them are studying and/or modelling and they are very good representatives of their own countries. There is another channel called World Friends, which is related to this one and sometimes you see people from World Friends on Global Earth and vice-versa. Very interesting channels to watch if you want to learn more about different languages and cultures.
I'm from the UK and I'm pretty sure I could place every single US state on a map, might struggle with the New England states but other than that it's easy. I'm also pretty sure I could name the state by the flag for at least 5 states. I'd get pretty lost when it gets to the plethora of just blue flags with something in the middle.
Mate you are doing good! For American stereotype 👍 Happy new year
As an Australia, I think we have a lot of similarities with Americans: big country, far from other countries, lots of immigrants from all over the world, but I get the feeling Australians are more travelled and have a better understanding of the world. I don't know of any statistics to back that up. I have just lived in Australia for most of my life but have spent time in several parts of the USA and it is the impression I have developed.
Hi Ryan one of your Scottish subs here to wish you and your family a happy new year. 🥂🎉 I hope 2025 is a great one for you. Take care 😘🏴
Slàinte Mhath from a Highlander.
@ Slainte from a fellow Scot (Lowlander) Glasgow. Take care 😘🏴 🥂🎉
For once, the dumbest thing was the game format for me.
When my son was six he could name nearly all the capital cities in the world.
..stop
And now that he is older, he's probably forgotten a good number of them, as knowledge we don't use repeatedly, gets forgotten over time.
For the love of God, Ryan, you are interrupting in the worst possible moments. Can we have a finished sentence for once? 😅😅
How is speed-based knowledge quiz telling of the actual knowledge of people 😭#saltyEuropean
you can have a specialty, but have also general knowledge.
These people are all language teachers from an International School in S.Korea, IIRC. So they are an already well selected bunch.
Its the fact that the europeans still won and these were faaaar from the brighter ones we have over here 💀
But international education is a part of general knowledge.
Starting about 2000 public schools and universities began graduating students with little to no knowledge of actual social studies, geography and history. Society is now reaping the results.
Are you talking about US society?
@ yes
The only reason I'm good at flags is because of sports. In the US you don't play international sports
Bro AUS vs IND cricket boxing Day match is completeed . Can u react
It would be interesting to do an evaluation with students from Asia to compare
Happy New Year Ryan to you and your family. 🎉
Americans are smartest nation in the world 💪
You colonised the Philippines, you should know 😅
German is my first, French is my second, English my third language, and Spanish my fourth (although I’m only fluent in the first three). While I’d say my English is C1-C2, I read slower than natives. In French the same. I’m not a slow reader but in quizzes like this one, you definitely notice the difference.
Happy new year to you!
Hey are u a sibling of Daily Max 😵💫 btw lv to see more CRICKET reactions. lv from Sri Lanka 💗
In Switzerland, English will be your 3rd or 4th language. i.E. Although Swiss German is considered a dialect, it’s still so different from German that I consider German my 1st foreign language. Then we learn French and *then* English. Swiss French and Swiss Italian aren’t the same as French and Italian either, although I guess French is closer. And of course those that have Rumatsch as their first language also learn German, French and then English, AFAIK.
General knowledge, such as geography, history and the world around you, among other things... is what differentiates an educated person from one who is not...
By the way, mental agility is a characteristic of intelligence.
Yes but they spoilt this test by using the stupid bell, instead of giving each a means to write the answer down and showing it together.
I think that we can read as fast in foreign language as in our own language, its just about how much time we've been learning the other language. I m lazy :) but when I care to not be lazy, :) I can read a book in Polish and in English at the same time - for example a day.
Intelligence is not the same thing as knowledge. There are many nuances to the discussion
Today I realised you and Tyler Rumple are different people. I was getting so confused 😂😂
Americans elected trump....twice. That is the answer to the question.
Norway 😂😂😂😂😂
I think your comment on 'global earth' was completely valid 😂
Too irritating, why can't they each have a bell button?
I think people miss understand the meaning smart . I call this Knowledge , culture , be informed more than smart....and thats its what you recive on your first 20 y of your existence....and it continues to grow based on your interest.
Happy new year Ryan❤❤❤😍
Hey, flags are difficult. I'm in the EU, know a lot of international differences, some from your cool videos, but not even I know all EU flags. I recognize our Czech one, Chinese, Japanese, American, German, British, but then it starts to be difficult.
Ask elementary school questions in English to find out whether French, Swedish or German people are quicker to answer, find the mistake! Even if the question is clear, the foreign language gets in the way. Take the test in German or Swedish! LOL
I know a few Americans personally and they are among the smartest people I know)
Your US representatives were good, you can be proud of them.
I noticed that the American ones don't take turns as much, they have one "smarter" one 😀
Most Americans are European.
They just have a different education.
For future reference: All Nordic countries have the Nordic Cross in them.
12:40 VAR - checking goal possible offside 😂
Peru flag is like Austria but 90° twisted....been to both!
They are all living is South Korea, right?
So they must at least be somewhat open to the world (more than average person probably)
intelligence and education are two different kind of thinks. The only stupied thing about the test is the test, but still fun to watch. But no messurment for anything at all
What is considered “general knowledge’ is biased. If you were on an airplane that
crashed in the Amazon, would you follow someone with an MBA and an IQ of 145 or 12 year old girl who could not add but has survived in the area. What is important to know depends upon the opinion of the surveyors.
Americans don't learn anything from other countries in school. Here in Africa, we are forced to learn things from other countries in Geography, Civil education, History, literature etc. Even things we don't need.
its funny, i know where India is...
i flew over it on my way to New Zealand!
i even know where South America is, been to Peru!
This whole test is BS...because its more "Who is faster" than "Who is more intelligent".
I love watching these videos as an European who has no geographic/flag knowledge at all
All of these kids in this video is studying and live in South Korea so i guess this is not a typical European or US kids!
Ask the same questions in either Europe or the US the difference will be even a bigger win for the Europeans beacause of the terrible state of the education system in the US these days!
No freakin' clue? The Philippines were once a US colony...
Writing systems and flags are not important but in today's world I think it's important to know somethings about the geography and cultures world wide. You will meet people from xy countries and it's good thing to know something about the cultures, not offer beef to indians, pork to arabs and these kind of things.