by Noah Magen
As I was sitting in psychology class in the midst of our first chapter test, a girl raised her hand to ask a question that would spark my interest into exploring the ignorance of high school students and the public in general. What was this question? Lets say one of the easiest geographical questions there is. It was something people learned in the third grade. It is something every human should know, it was, “What are the seven continents in the world?” The teacher denied answering the silly question and the whole class went into an uproar, “But what is it?” “Come on Miss Z, what is it?” This event changed me that day, it made me feel like the smartest person in the world just because I knew what the seven continents were. So I decided to go out and ask around to see just how much people don't know.
My first question asked was of course how many continents are there and what are their names?
- Person one: Whoa
- Person two: I don't know
- Person three: China
- Person four: Is the U.S a continent?
- Person five: Aren't there 50 continents?
And the answer is…there are seven continents and their names are North America, South America, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, Europe and Africa.
Second up was, what state is Chicago in?
- Person one: Chicago is a state, I think.
- Person two: That's a trick question.
If you didn't know, that one it was Illinois.
Next, was what are the five Great Lakes?
- Person one: Heron, Huron, Orion, no, Oreon, Michigan, Lake Entity
- Person two: Big Lake, Hour Glass Lake, Michigan, Illinois.
- Person three: Five Great Lakes? I though there was only three.
- Person four: Salt Lake, I think so…something like that.
- Person five: Indiana
That one was Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Superior and Erie.
Now to Alaskan geography, what are the two bodies of water, also known as arms, which surround Anchorage?
- Person one: The Aleution Islands and the Panhandle.
- Person two: Oh, is someone giving Anchorage a hug?
- Person three: Cook Inlet
- Person four: Cook Inlet
- Person five: The Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean?
Come on guys, you live here! Anyways, the answer was the Turnagain Arm and the Knik Arm.
This next question probably the toughest one asked, what city is on the Seward Peninsula?
- Person one: Kenai or Homer, home Homer!
- Person two: Moose pass…Seward?
- Person three: Fairbanks
- Person four: Uh, Seward?
- Person five: Girdwood
- Person six: A city?
- Person seven: A city?
This one was Nome.
Last but maybe one of the easiest, what is the tallest mountain in the world?
- Person one: Kilimanjaro
- Person two: Mount Rushmore
- Person three: Mauna Kea?
The last question was of course Mt. Everest.
Well now that you've heard for yourself, do YOU know your geography?
Geography quiz
