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So everyone on the internoodle is so excited that Al Franken drew a map of the U.S. from memory. "Big deal," we thought, and challenged our writers and editors to do the same. Click to see how our maps turned out ... or click here to bid on our original artwork!
Julieanne: Close.
Julie: Oklahoma is more than OK -- it's on the map twice.
Emily: Appears to have gotten distracted after penciling in her home state.
Timm: Wow -- real talk from our StreetLevel friend.
Jordan: "Eff Mississippi," he says in retrospect.
Laura: More like No-hio! Amirite, ladies?
CJ: Our saucy blogger gets political -- and in color!
Lindsey: Our contributor from Urlesque's anthropomorphic take on the media's view of America:
Erin: Pretty good, but she did get two do-overs.
Meg Malone: Our new awesome friend writes, "This was a lot harder than I thought! I could only remember 45 states." That's 43 more than some of us, Meghan.
Lydia Weary: A reader from Columbus, Ohio, sent in this fancy-pants version, explaining, "Here's a map I drew from memory for a sign that I took to a concert a few years back. The song 'Monday Comes Around' is a b-side from Switchfoot's album 'The Beautiful Letdown.'" Color us impressed!
Ryan: Julieanne's friend contributed a digital guide to the nation's goods and services.
Nick: A reader apologetically sent this in with the note, "Wanted to blame this on someone under 21... but truthfully, this is the product of US High School Education! (And 2 years of college too!!)" Showoff!
Reader Meg sent u s this hilarious map! We want to live where cheese lives.
How would you do? Send us your memory-drawn map and we'll add it to our fine collection.
Comments:
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Monday 21 September
By Claire
wow this is better than i'll ever do....
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Tuesday 22 September
By MohanArun.com
This is one of the most original ideas I have ever seen on the internet! Keep it up!
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Thursday 24 September
By Courtney
Erin forgot Maryland
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Friday 25 September
By krazyvirgo1977
Absolutely pathetic!! It just shows how much the education system has deteriorated in just the past 20 years. When I was in 4th grade, we had to memorize the names of all 50 states and their capitals, and then were given a blank map and had to fill it in for our exam, I can't remember anyone not passing it. Then, in 6th grade we did the same thing over with all the (26 at the time) European countries, learning their position on the map and the capital of each country. This was "real" school, what do they teach kids now?? It's no wonder American kids today are the stupidest kids in the world!
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Saturday 26 September
By Sadie
Haha, I love that Canada is "Degrassi" is Ryan's map.
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Sunday 27 September
By helminiakc
There are more states above Indiana and Ohio, lol. I am not an artist, and cannot try to duplicate the map Good luck to all that try.
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Sunday 27 September
By geonerd
I love this! America is straight up retarded when it comes to geography. I have my master's in geography and I can't name evrywhere in the world, but at least even before I got my master's and my bachelor's i could name all 50 states and their capitals, and place them on the map, because hmmmm this is where i am from.
America is the only 1st world country that does not teach their kids geography on a consistent basis, I am not surprised by these results.
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Saturday 03 October
By Doubledown Tandino
you do mean the USA on Earth, right?
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Sunday 04 October
By DAS
Lydia Weary is a liar.
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Monday 05 October
By Ashley
For the record, Taquilla means box office in Spanish. Tequila is the wonderful liquid from Mexico. Oh, and you're all idiots.
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Wednesday 14 October
By vesey
Shannon does your "it happens to the best of us" include G. Bush ??
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Monday 19 October
By Chelsea
I was never taught the geography of the country. Instead, my teachers made us memorize the countries and capitals of the world. Knowing the countries of the world helps us to familiarize us with the rest of the world. How does knowing the location of Ohio enrich us? I've never known why so many schools put so much emphasis on the capitals of the United States.
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Wednesday 16 December
By Hannah Rhino
I am a 17 year old highschool student. I do not understand the rude comments about uneducated American children. First of all, your teacher may have forced you to memorize the position of every state 20 years ago, but can you recite them today? Second, with technology increasing so rapidly, memorizing information that can be retrieved via internet or even cell phones in seconds would be a complete waste of time. Another point I would like to make is that the discoveries of new diseases, technologies, fields of study, and relatively any information is significantly increased each and every year. This means your child is probably learning twice as much as what you were expected to learn two decades ago. I do not believe that being able to label a map is an essential skill such as reading and writing is. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the rapid growth in technology plays a huge role in this argument. Who is to say whether or not text books will even be in use three decades from now. Society today is reliant on computer technology to retrieve the information that is needed, and will only become more reliant if we continue to function in this manner. Anyway, my point is that those of you who are comparing the technology of the 1900s to the technology of today, in other words, memorization to the ability to access the information quickly, are completely oblivious to the changes that have occurred. Consider the possibility of schools teaching students how to retrieve information, instead of the information itself. It's impossible to learn and remember everything, and most of what is taught in school is virtually useless.
Anyway, I enjoyed this website. Creative, and entertaining. Thumbs up.
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