Friday, February 12, 2016

Political Science 2016.

The link, if you must.

A newly-released video shows students at George Mason University struggling mightily to identify Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan based on photographs.

Despite being located in Fairfax, Virginia, which is less than 20 miles from Washington, D.C., the students in the video prove completely unable to identify even figures as notable as Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan.

“I don’t recognize who that is,” says one nursing major when prompted by a smiling photo of Biden. At least seven other students were unable to identify Biden, though one ventured an incorrect guess that the pictured figure was John McCain. One of those unable to identity the vice president even claimed to be majoring in government and international politics.



7 comments:

  1. These videos are bullshit 9/10 times. They show the people who give stupid answers but don't show the 90+% of people who are just like "Yeah, that's Joe Biden."

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  2. To be fair, I'd have a hard time identifying a photo of Biden -- I'm not good at recognizing faces, and I get my news the old-fashioned way, by reading it. (I probably also wouldn't be able to identify any of this year's presidential candidates by sight except Hillary Clinton, but that doesn't mean I don't know who they are.)

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    1. This comment actually reminds me of a story. I was arguing with a young lady in a class (I was correct, obviously) and at one point, instead of presenting evidence to support her point, she asked me "Do you even watch the news?"

      "No. I READ the news."

      It's maybe the 2nd or 3rd proudest moment of my life.

      Delete
  3. It would be tough for me if I were asked out of the blue to recognize Joe Biden. I'd recognize Reagan any day but I grew up with him. Eisenhower? Nope.

    I generally like these kinds of videos because they reinforce the negative stereotypes that I hold about students (i.e., I am much smarter than they are about all important subjects), and that always makes me feel better. This, however, isn't a good example of the genre.

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    1. I LIKE Ike. I would hope YOU like Ike. In fact, I'd really think that we all like Ike.

      Delete
  4. I gotta say being proud of not recognizing world leaders because one reads the news seems awfully odd. Where do you read these things? Are there no images. I hope you enjoy those Hubble news articles.

    Hector

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