US adults score below average on worldwide test

Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by Samuel_Michon on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @06:00AM (#6520321)

Lately, I have noticed several US news publications referring to the Netherlands and Belgium as being situated in Northern Europe. That bugs me, they’re actually in Western Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Europe

From Brussels to the nearest Scandinavian country, Denmark, is a 10 hour drive.

Here’s the paragraph I’m referring to: “But in the northern European countries that have fared better, the picture was brighter — and the study credits continuing education. In Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, more than 60 percent of adults took part in either job training or continuing education.”

(I’ll refrain from making the obvious jokes about Americans being bad at general geography.)

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by BlobbleBlab on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @06:43AM (#6520437)

It is absolutely wrong, ignorant and probably fascist to include Belgium and the Netherlands in the same geographic subdivision. The line between Northern and Southern Europe is somewhere between Rotterdam and Antwerp. Belgium is on the northern outskirts of the Mediterranean region.

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by Samuel_Michon on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @07:25AM (#6520571)

I understand it was an attempt at humor, but there is no line that divides Northern and Southern Europe. Western Europe is in between both (like Central America is in between North and South America).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_subregion_map_UN_ge...

Also, ‘the Mediterranean’ is not the same as Southern Europe. For instance, France, Monaco, and Corsica are not part of Southern Europe, even though they are in the Mediterranean. Portugal is in Southern Europe, but it isn’t in the Mediterranean.

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by V-2 on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @07:34AM (#6520603)

This post-Cold War classification is somewhat oversimplified.. The category of Central Europe (or Middle Europe) is more helpful in understanding the divisions. Vide "The stolen West..." by Kundera, for example

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by Samuel_Michon on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @03:47PM (#6523393)

I’m not sure what you mean by that. Central Europe (or Middle Europe) doesn’t include the Netherlands or Belgium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by V-2 on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @06:51AM (#6520461)

(An European myself) I have met highly educated Europeans who believed that Mexico is in Southern America. Or that Kazakhstan - one of the largest countries in the world, mind you - is in Europe :)

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Re:US adults score below average on worldwide test by Samuel_Michon on Wednesday October 09, 2013 @07:42AM (#6520629)

Sure, I’m willing to bet most Europeans don’t know either of those facts. However, it can be expected of a journalist writing about the subject to look it up. And if he fails to do so, then surely, the error is spotted by a fact checker or editor. That’s how it’s supposed to work, anyways.

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