[quote]If we forget our history tests, are we doomed to repeat them?
Oh, Canada, shame on you!
Most Canadians know so little about their country that they would flunk the basic test that new immigrants are required to take before becoming citizens, according to a poll released yesterday.
The survey commissioned by the Dominion Institute found 60% of Canadians don’t have the basic knowledge to pass the test given to newcomers. Ten years ago, 45% of those polled failed an identical test.
“Canadians appear to be losing knowledge when it comes to the most basic questions about Canadian history, politics, culture and geography … (they) performed abysmally on some questions,” Ipsos-Reid said in a statement while releasing the results of its survey of 1,005 adults. [/quote]
Here’s the test, but be warned -it’s a pdf; you have to scroll past the text to the bottom (some answers are given in the article); and the answers are shown next to the question.
You’ve got to love a country where a national crisis consists of its citizens not knowing the answers to useless questions about beaver and the Queen of England. My hat’s off to you, Canada. Thank you for giving the rest of the world hope that we, too, may one day return to living a simpler existence.
Not that anyone is asking but, as far as I’m concerned, there are really only two questions Canadians or anybody else for that matter need to know the answer to in order to have a useful, working level knowledge about the country:
They got one answer wrong, too (or half of one answer). The Head of State of Canada is NOT the Queen of England. She’s the Queen of Canada.
And beavers are important. I remember one summary that went along the lines of “there was a brisk trade in beaver between the Indians and the couriers du bois. This resulted in the Metis [half-breed] people.”
Canadians aren’t ignorant. They are able to memorize every single famous person working in the U.S. entertainment industry who originated from Canada. You can’t go for more than 5 minutes with a Canadian without them mentioning, “You know so-and-so is from Canada…”
Definitions of countries from an in-house textbook at the chain school I work at:
Japan - Raw fish. (how about karaoke, kamikaze and bukkake?) China - Great Wall of China.
America - USA. Statue of Liberty.(hamburgers, surely?)
Thailand - Temples, Gods with many hands.
France - Long bread. Eiffel Tower.
Italy - Spaghetti, pizza.
Germany - Sausages, long high way [sic] with no speed limit. (what about good beer, bad moustaches and mullets, lederhosen or something about starting world wars?)
England - English came from there. Queen (is that the band Queen, or the Queen). London Bridge. (could they not have mentioned stealing other peoples countries?)
India - Curry. Hot. Elephants.
Egypt - Pyramids, mummies, camels. (how about sand?) Canada - above America.
I suppose the meaning of above could be debatable.
I was only going to include the Canada one, but the others are hilarious too. Can anyone add any more alternative definitions?
Canada: America’s hat. or, Beavertown.
Australia: pocket mice (kangaroos)
Ireland: leprechauns and shamrocks, but Guiness is a close number two.
Mexico: big hats, bigger mo’s, and hot tamales.
Peru: pipes and llamas
Bolivia: see Peru
Columbia: cocaine and coffee
etc etc
these are all total stereotypes, so not very PC. great!
I was raised in a Church that was founded because a man wanted to trade his wife in on a younger model (no, the answer is not Rudy Guliani, Fred Thompson or Newt Gingrich)
In a country founded by a drunk on a railway swindle
In a city founded by a man who had the courage to build a raft, load it with a barrel of whiskey and an assortment of whores, and set off for greatness. Love ya, Gassy Jack!
Seems that there is a it of a ‘stereotyping’ problem in some of the Canadian media.
[quote]Stereotype silliness
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
Last month three cartoons appeared in Quebec’s francophone media that many Jews found offensive.
The cartoonists were apparently ridiculing Action Democratique du Quebec leader Mario Dumont for meeting unannounced with Jewish leaders in the Montreal home of former Sen. Leo Kolber, a prominent Liberal fundraiser.
This on the same day the fate of Quebec’s budget, introduced by the minority Liberal government, was being decided. In theory, the budget, which Dumont opposed, could have been defeated, forcing an election, had not the Parti Quebecois decided to back the Liberals.
Somehow though, cartoons supposedly intended to mock Dumont for showing poor political judgment, employed stereotypical imagery highly offensive to many Jews.
Herve Philippe of La Tribune showed Dumont seated behind a desk facing two Jewish men (identified by their yarmulkes and sidelocks) dressed in business attire, each carrying a briefcase, one with a visibly large nose.more at link Toronto Sun[/quote]
I wonder what the entry for Germany was? Lederhosen, beer, and Hitler?
Maybe they should have taken a cue from the cultural institutes of various countries, which tend to be named for some great person with a global cachet. For example, Germany has Goethe Institutes, China is starting Confucius institutes, and so on. (I wonder what Taiwan’s would be?)
