The "How Well Do Americans Know Canada?" Quiz

[meg_tdj]

I've been curious about something for quite a while now, and I was finally bored enough to do something about it - I have created a quiz/poll to test you Americans on your knowledge of Canada. ;)

Here's the thing - we Canadians have to learn just about everything there is to know about America. We get your TV shows, your movies, your books, your news broadcasts, even your school textbooks in some instances... yet it seems as though the majority of Americans know next to nothing about their friendly neighbours to the north. So, here's your chance to prove to yourself and the world just how much you know (or don't know) about Canada! There are no stupid questions in here like, "Do Canadians really live in igloos?" because I refuse to believe that anybody could be quite THAT ignorant. They're all questions that I feel people SHOULD know the answers to, that American kids should be taught in school when they have their little half-page lesson on Canada in 5th grade. And they're all multiple choice, so they shouldn't be too hard.

So please, if you're American (or any nationality, for that matter), would you humour my curiosity just a little and take this quiz? Only 21 questions, in the form of an LJ poll, so if nothing else it'll be fun clicking the ticky boxes, heh. Just please don't cheat! I seriously want to know how much Americans know about their baby brother, Canada. Don't worry, I won't get mad or even gloat if you get the answers wrong... it'll just be an indication that the American school system needs to broaden their curriculum just a tad. :P

(I'm leaving this unlocked, so please feel free to pimp it for the broadest results!)

[Poll #972073]

LJ wouldn't let me get all the questions in one poll, so please submit your answers to the first one and come back for part 2! :)

[Poll #972074]


I'll post the correct answers later, but if you want to know in advance what your score was, just let me know. :)

Comments

[audreyscastle.livejournal.com]

Canada rocks!

[audreyscastle.livejournal.com]

And I thinks I need a better primer on Canadian info...cant wait for the answers to be posted!

...but Tim Horton's seriously has the best muffins.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Yes it does! :D

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

I should hope I did better than some, but I doubt I got a perfect score--lots of "stuff you learn in school" kinds of questions (which I tend not to know at all) versus "general cultural knowledge" kinds of questions (with which I do better). I definitely guessed a few times, and suspect that a couple may be trick questions (like the Montgomery one--because everyone's going to say PEI, but I know she set novels in Ontario, too, and possibly more than in PEI? I have no idea; I've only read the Anne books).

Anyway, cool!

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Who, me? Trick questions? Never. ;)

Yeah, I tried to throw in some straight-from-a-textbook questions, but it's mostly important cultural stuff the average Canadian knows that should be taught in other countries as well. We all know who the first American president was, who all the great American generals were, etc. Tit for tat, people. ;)

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

Tit for tat, people

Uncontested.

Though I'd be really curious to see Americans answer a similar quiz about American history and culture--because you realize, don't you, that part of the problem with much American public schooling is not a lack of appreciation for Canadian history, it's a lack of appreciation for history, period. For instance, I only learned any European history before I got to college because I was just interested in it and I read a lot of varied fiction. I only learned as much American history as I did because I took AP US History--the people in the regular US History class mostly just watched movies, as I recall. My other high school history class (yes, I was only required to take two years of history in four years of high school) was sort of an world civ./ancient history sort of thing. And granted, my Kentucky public school education probably wasn't as comprehensive as it could have been (!), but I also don't think it was hugely atypical, at least among public schools.

I'm not defending the practice; I'm just putting things into perspective a little bit. ;)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying, but learning history in school wasn't really the point here. There were only a handful of real "history" questions on this quiz, and it's all stuff that's top priority for Canadians. The Laura Secord question isn't really school-taught history... I learned the most about her from the chocolate stores named in her honour, specials about her on TV, random references in everyday conversation, etc. The Battle of Detroit's the same... I learned the most about that from TV, and from the famous Brock's Monument.

If I'd created a quiz like this for Americans, I would have asked who was your first president, when did the first American set foot on the moon, when did the US join in on WW2, what did Benedict Arnold become known for... all stuff I'm sure the average American would know. The average Canadian knows it, too. ;)

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I bombed. Everything I know about Canada I learned from reading the posts of Canadians on my flist. *g*

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Aww... well, after you read the answers you'll know more than most Americans do. ;)

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

Re official name: I didn't know they stopped using it!

Re Battle of Detroit: You got one of them in, but you forgot his equally important partner in crime :P

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I didn't know either! I had to double check all my facts on Wiki before writing up the questions, and I noticed they said that official documents since the 80's have just called it "Canada", so the longer name is technically not official anymore. *shrug*

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Whoops, forgot to reply to your second comment... yeah, you mean Tecumseh? I was going to put his name on there, too, but I figured I was confusing people enough... (would you believe hardly ANYbody's getting that question right?) ;)

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

That's probably because they've never heard of the Battle of Detroit ;)

All they probably learn about is how they burned Toronto so we returned the favour and burned DC--and they STILL haven't thanked us!

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Ungrateful... ;)

Though I'm thinking maybe that's why they ignore us these days. They're giving us the silent treatment. ;)

[settiai]

*raises hand*

I'd just like to say that the only reason I knew most of these is because A. I have a ton of Canadians on my friends list (which explains all of the more recent stuff) and B. I'm a history major whose main professor is obsessed with Canadian history (which explains everything else.)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, that's good to know... you've been paying attention! ;)

[superbadgirl]

LOL, I'm terrible at history of any kind.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for giving it a shot anyway! :)

[jammer0307.livejournal.com]

I need to know my score!!! Y'know I live in a border town so some of this I know, besides in my curriculum in primary school we had to take Canadian history. I'm from Michigan, so I should know the Battle of Detroit one, but my U.S. History class was more concerned with the fact we WON the War of 1812, because of the Battle of New Orleans.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

You got 13 right out of 21. If you want to know specifically which ones you got right and wrong, I'll have to e-mail you with the answers. :)

Haha, the War of 1812... I've noticed American schools tend to leave out the fact that we whooped you guys something fierce throughout the majority of that war. ;)

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

Having been to both Canadian and American schools...

YES, WTF? HI, THE BRITISH BURNED DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE. I mean, I could go on and on about how yes, it was sort of a moral victory for the new United States, and how it was all pyrrhic and whatnot for the Brits, BUT STILL, HI.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Shhhh... American teachers don't like to talk about that part. ;)

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

YAY!!

The Joe Canada Molson Rant, in case anyone is actually concerned about the igloo thing.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

OHMIGOSH ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! *downloads* HAHAHAHAHA!!! Dude... I LOVED that commercial. I taped it at one point, but sadly it was erased soon after, so YOU HAVE MADE MY YEAR.

My name is JOE! And I AM CANADIAN!! *feels patriotic*

[mylittleredgirl.livejournal.com]

*grins*

TOTALLY! I swear, 85% of all Canadian patriotism comes from Hockey Night In Canada and beer commercials.

You know after this commercial came out people started reciting the whole thing at sporting events, like it was the new national anthem? OMG YES. I died of joy.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, it was the first time we were sort of "allowed" to be all openly patriotic about the little things that make us different. I'll always remember the first time I saw that commercial, I almost fell out of my seat with cheering the guy on, LOL! So awesome. :)

[ses-gatergirl.livejournal.com]

err...

I think I just managed to get the average score on these polls down by a lot. oops. It was fun though *g*

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

You got... *counts* 6 out of 21. Not the worst score I've seen so far, so you did okay. ;)

[ses-gatergirl.livejournal.com]

mwhahahaha. I suck. To my defense, we only covered the basics on US history, and I'm pretty sure that all we only covered Canadian history up to the point where the US was founded. Which incidentally actually is pre-Canadian history...

All I know about Canada, I learned from watching tv, I think.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

That's just sad. We're so ignored! *sigh*

[ses-gatergirl.livejournal.com]

::hugs::

if it makes you feel any better, we didn't learn anything about Asian history and for South America we only covered the Columbus era.

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

LOL I admire your restraint. ;)

Thanks! I always got a kick out of it in history class when the teacher would be reading something from an American textbook and then say, "Oh, but something they left out here... we kicked their butts!" Er, though maybe not in so many words... ;)

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

And let it be noted that some of us don't remember anything about the war of 1812 no matter whose side of the story is being told. Seriously. Other than Dolly Madison and the burning White House, it might not have happened, for as much as I remember. Which probably means I didn't get taught it at all or very well, because I'm usually pretty good at remembering history if I ever learned it.

Of course I didn't learn any Canadian history AT ALL before I moved to Canada and have only picked up snatches since then, so yeah. I'm not contesting the fact that I probably should know this stuff--but I don't. :(

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Aww... that was kind of my point, though - the school system just doesn't teach it. I think the main reason Americans are seen as arrogant and self-centered throughout most of the world is because US kids are taught about all the wonderful things their country has done while skipping over the mistakes they've made and the times they've failed. Most other countries tend to embrace both the good and the bad in their history, so kids grow up knowing their country is fallible. It's kind of dangerous not to, IMO.

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

I always assumed the war of 1812 was glossed over in favor of the far more interesting war that came before it and/or the far more interesting war that came after it. But maybe it's also part of the great American propaganda plot (which I totally believe exists, to be sure).

Although so much of 19th century American history is so wrapped up in slavery, and there's a whole lot of bad there that can't be ignored--and wasn't, even in my not-so-great public school education in the South. And perhaps there's even a more nuanced view of it in the South because there you can't look at the history of slavery and say "well, it wasn't really us" because it was. At any rate, my point is that in every American history class I've taken, the war of 1812 was glossed over not because it was a moment of national embarrassment but because there was a much bigger national embarrassment that warranted more coverage.

Of course, then we'd get all stuck at the Civil War and hardly make it into the 20th century. I'd be really interested to know how history classes that manage to make it that far deal with Vietnam, for instance--because if ever there were a moment for knowing your country is fallible...

[canadianbeauty2.livejournal.com]

that's such a cool idea. im debating taking it. would it be fair since im canadian? (although i might do really bad, which is adepressing thought) but cool quiz and great questions?

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

Sure, go ahead and take it! The worst that can happen is that you learn more about your country. ;)