Can Americans Answer These 3 Geography Questions? | American reaction 

I got Madagascar, but who the hell works in 'miles'? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Americans.

Imagine if the kids were really from India and they just know the diameter of Earth in miles by heart even though they use the metric system. btw, the other kid wrote 40000. Which is the the (rounded) circumference of Earth, but in kilometers....

A wise, very tall man once described the Atlas as one of the rarest books in America

Strict parents? I used to already know these kind of things as a kid as well but not because I was forced to but cause I was eager to increase my knowledge.

😂 hilarious reaction mate Your a great example of the point shes making 😂 Love the fact you can take the piss out of yourself so deadpan 😂 Peace love from the U.K 🇬🇧

Hm. I'm a 28 year old European who always struggled with geography but even I knew the answers to the first 2 questions. I didn't know the third because I don't know how to convert meters into miles. The reason I know it in meters is because we use the Earth's radius so often in calculations for physics that it sticks with you.

The first two were easy, but for the third I only knew the circumference of the earth in kilometres. With pi and an estimated divisor of 1.7 to miles, I ended up with 8000. Good enough...for "without a calculator" 🙂

I'm from Denmark. I couldn't even name a desert in south america, let alone know which one is the driest. I guessed madagascar, but I wasn't certain of it. I calculated to somewhere close to 8000 miles based on knowing that the circumference is about 40.000 km...

You learn something like this at school and it is part of general knowledge.

Knew two , mainly because of the wonderful David Attenborough wildlife series over the years . A great way to learn about the world .

To be honest, I got all of them. AND, I don't have strict parents, just the function of age, I suppose.

I didn't have a clue about the desert but I got Madagascar, I was quite proud of myself!

I think the trick question about largest island "in the indian ocean" is that it had to be inside of the ocean, cause Australia has the Indian ocean on one side of it and the pacific on the other and is both an island and a continent and many times larger than Madagascar.

i don't even use miles as a European . this is rigged XD

I couldn’t answer these as a German. We just never covered these in Geography and I just don’t like Geography. It doesn’t make me dumb, it doesn’t mean I’m not educated or not clever. We all have things we’re better or worse at

P.S.: As far as I know, these kids get certain guidelines for studying before coming on the show. Some children just love to read and to learn new things. It`s not always the case that parents are training and forcing them.

I got all three (almost) right. I ended up with ~7.6 - 8k miles because I used no calculator and had to convert roughly km to miles.

The beginning of the school year in an American school. The class teacher introduces the class: - Children, we have a newcomer, Shakiro Suzuki from Japan, meet the class. And now. let's begin the lesson and see how well you know American history. Who said, "Give me Liberty or give me Death"? There is dead silence in the classroom. Suzuki raises his hand: - Patrick Henry, 1775, Philadelphia. - Very good. And whose words, "The state is the people, and as such should never die"? Suzuki's hand again: - Abraham Lincoln, 1863, Washington. The teacher looks sternly at the class: - Shame on you, children! Suzuki is Japanese and knows American history better than anyone! At that moment, a quiet voice from the back of the classroom: - Fuck the fucking Japs! The teacher turns around: - Says who?!?!! Suzuki jumps up and scrambles away: - General MacArthur, Guadalcanal Island, 1942. With the class completely numb, an exclamation from the back row: - Suck it! The teacher is going spotty: - Whooooo?!!!! Suzuki instantly jumps up: - Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., 1997. Outraged shriek: - Suzuki sucks!!! And not a second delay: - Valentino Rossi at the 2002 Rio de Janeiro Brazilian Grand Prix motorcycle race! The class is hysterical, the teacher faints, the door swings open and the and a furious headmaster appears: - Fucking hell! What the fuck is this mess?!!!! Before he can sit down, Suzuki: - President Yeltsin, session of the Russian Parliament, 1993...!

The driest desert in the world have to be Antartica right?

The first two were easy and definitely taught at school, the last one I knew in kilometres 😅 we had a strict geography teacher, that was one no nonsense lady 😂

I knew the desert has the name "death valley" but did not know the actual name of the desert. I remember the Top Gear crew being there once. Did not remember Madagascar being in the Indian Ocean. The diameter one is easy. Circumference of a sphere is the multiplication of of PI and the diameter, so 40.000km/PI, which comes to around 13,000km, which is roughly 8,000 miles.

I knew the circumference of the Earth as approximately 40000 km in my head converted it to miles by dividing by 8 and multiplying by 5 gave me 25000 miles To get the diameter I needed to divide by pi (pi is approximately 1/20 more than 3) so I divided by 3 got 8333 miles and then divided by 10 then that by 2 and got 416 miles took 416 from 8333 and got 7917. which is the right order of magnitude.

These kids' parents have them study for this stuff to win scholarships. Good on them! We learned all of this in 8th grade Geography class with Mr Schlichenmaier. We would walk into class and there were 3 big blackboards covered in handwriting we had to copy by hand. On Friday there was a test. Of course that was back in about 1965, so a lot of these countries aren't even the same name now. 😊

Ryan, the earth is slightly "fatter" around the equator, so it makes sense to specify that it has be from the center to the equator

i knew Atacama desert because we studied it in high school (New Zealand) Madagascar yes especially as it has been on the news here a bit, but the diameter of the Earth, no clue especially as we use kilometres

Third question was a bit of a trick as we almost always deal with circumference. Otherwise, the questions are pretty straightforward. Geography is an incredibly integrative discipline that most people are clueless about. As for not knowing, get busy with your little one as he grows and learn together. The world is too fascinating and critical to be willfully ignorant. (Yes, my background is geography).

I know Atacama by heart as an astronomy nerd because it houses some of the largest telescopes and telescope arrays in the world plus the hotel used at the end of Daniel Craig's second Bond movie is the hotel built for all the scientists and personnel working in those telescope buildings. The VLT is there and the next record breaker ELT is being constructed there at the moment.

As the earth's circumference is around 24,000 miles, to get a rough idea just reverse Pi on that to get the diameter. As Pi is 22/7, you can say that works out to a loose 7,000 which is what I guessed (and was wrong but close)

Knowledge is power. Those with the knowledge to control the masses rule the masses with knowledge.

“How did this kid know that?” You already answered the question: they have their heads full of facts even if they’re not practically useful

Okay, I paused the video and tried: Driest desert in South America, I assume, the Atacama desert in Peru. Largest island within the Indian ocean, I guess it's Sri Lanka. (I was wrong, Madagascar would have been it, but it's off the coast of Africa, didn't know that this part of the sea is the Indian ocean, too.) The equatorial diameter in miles, don't ask me, I'm German, we use kilometers. Around 6,000, I guess. (But Google proved me wrong, 6,000 is the radius, the diameter is double. Stupid me.) Well, one out of three. I really should work on my geography skills. And math, because confusing radius with diameter, that shouldn't happen. Thank goodness I'm not an engineer.

I love you for distinguishing intelligence and education! ☺️❤ Yes, those asian parents are strict. 😬

common if you do a can x answer this question use questions that matter. when would the knowledge of the specifically largest island in the indian ocean be relevant and to begin with madagascar is next to the bottom of africa and directly below the middle east so even if you know of it would you really think of it being part of the INDIAN ocean without straight up having learned that.

I did honestly know the Madagascar question (Full disclosure --- I wasn't 100% sure, but I was at least confident enough that I said my answer out loud). The only reason I would have guessed it is I did a 5th grade geography report on the country. For ~10 years I remembered random facts about Madagascar. I've luckily forgotten most everything now except that it's an island off the southeastern coast of Africa. Does anyone else have an experience doing a grade-school report on a random place or person, and then you just knew random facts about that thing well past any point of utility?

I would question the first question as I would argue that the driest place in the World is the Dry Valley's in Antartica.

People from India is technically Asian. It's called the Asian subcontinent of India

We in Europe do not use the word race, there are no races in humans. But ethnic groups

The kids always know more then us "older adults" lol Ask them these same questions when they have 40 years of LIFE experience under their belts. :D j/k Shows like this and "Are you Smarter then a Fifth Grader" always make me feel like my education was a complete waste of time. lol

Reason she’s asking about the equatorial distance is because the world isn’t exactly round as at the equator it’s bigger because the earth bulges at the equator, knew the first two answers but also had a rough guess at 7000 miles for the 3rd question

We get American comedians on quizzes here in England who don't know US geography as well as comedians from Britain !

As an European - I didn’t know there were deserts in South America - I EASILY found the answer Madagascar - I was fair close to the right diameter (I said 7500 miles, and I kinda guessed it because I don’t know what a mile is so I had to transfer my answer from kilometers to miles by guessing how long is a mile compared to a kilometer)

Atacama and Madagascar (I have friends from Antananarivo/Tananarive) were easy but equatorial diameter of earth in...miles...For a French it's impossible 🤪

Bad news. I knew them all. I'm a hoary guy now, but I've known them since I was a kid. Physical geography always fascinated me.

Just yesterday I saw a video about European students being, for the most part, unable to answer geography questions, so…well…we’re in this together.

Ryan - India is in Asia, so Indians are asians too.

Thank you for “Earth diameter” question. It put my brain to hard work. It took some time to remember Earth circumference of 40000km and 3 minutes to remember C = Pi *d from the course of 9th grade in school, then 5 minutes to calculate and convert to miles. This was tough!

it DOES make a difference where on earth you messure it - if you lets say messure it just a few meters from the north pole - the amount of distance from start to finish is WAY shorter than around the equator

These seemed like tough but fair questions . Yes I managed them.

I had two answers to the Indian Ocean question - 1) If the island is wholly surrounded by the Indian Ocean, then Madagascar 2) If the island is in the Indian Ocean, just not completely surrounded, then Australia (Nearly half is in the Indian Ocean).

Half (or more) of the kids that live outside of America have some kind of interest to geography. I started learning geography when I was Eight. Not because I have strict parents. Because I liked it so much. Most young Americans only care about social media and stuff like that.

My son knows things like these because HE'S INTERESTED. I as his parent have nothing at all to do with it

RESPECT! You're one brave US'er - taking on geography. OMG! ygg I see you as a clever cockie, but I do not expect miracles - but I do respect your bravery (in all the videos of your's I've seen)

For the equatorial diameter, I thought somewhere around 9k miles. So I was pretty close... Considering I don't use the imperial system lmao

Off topic: Hey Hey It’s Saturday! Dickie Knee: My Mum and Dad met at the circus. Mum operated the merry-go-round and Dad worked on the ferris wheel. They nearly didn’t get together because they moved in different circles.

I don't want to sound rude by any mean..... If something, this only shows how bad the education in USA is, not how clever Americans are......however, I can't help but point out, kid's from country where I'm from (Czechia) would learn answers to all of these questions most likely between age 12-14.... I was average student and still I know these answers (except the last one in kilometers not miles obviously). I often hear from Americans "how is it that Germany has so many engineers, they must be geniuses" (they have similar school system to ours)....the answer is simply schooling.... Guys you need school reform so much, you don't even know.

i thought madagascar one was australia as its the second biggest island in the world and western australia has the indian ocean so at least it was an educated guess lol

Of course the kids get it right, they just learnt it. I have 46 years of crap to go through in my brain to remember things. I barely remember my kids names 😆😆😆

These question where hard though i got Madagascar. And as a worldwide travel consultant for 17 years my general geography is fairly good.

The first 2 were really easy peasy, I had those at school multiple times, the 3rd a bit tricky normally the circumference is taught, convert it to miles and then convert to diameter - I had to use the calculator.... 😂

I am Romanian. During communism, I did serious schooling. It worked well for me, a simple worker I knew the three questions. In fact, I can say even today, after 40 years, 90% of the world's state capitals, mountains, rivers, etc.

These are the things you learn at school, just to forget them right after writing a test. In the german countries we call that "Bulimielernen" (bulimia-learing): Stuff everything in to vomit all out by writing a test. No idea if that term exists in america or any other language. Anyway, that education method is subject to criticism, because the human brain doesn't work like a harddrive so it is very bad in "copying" facts. It rather learns abstract patterns, like a house is a combination of a large square (walls) with small squares (doors, windows) and a triangle (roof). That way the human brain can recognize everything as a house that matches these common patterns. Learing by heart is basically pointless.

Wait... kids aren't smart, they just remember things because their parents are strict? x'D

Those are pretty average general knowledge pub quiz questions in the UK.

i got the first two right and i knew the earths diameter was 12 thousand something km but only because it's compared to so many things like "this bird flys the equivalent of the diameter of the earth" and the circumference is 40k km so the kid at the front had the circumference memorized but confused it with diameter.

I knew the first one with confidence. I guessed Madagascar for the second, and I was surprised I got that right. I honestly thought it's gonna be a tricky question and the answer will be Australia. I guessed 26 000 miles for the third, cuz the length of the Equator is ~40 000 km. They asked diameter.... DUH.

5:09 Because they're learning, they're interested in it, and they don't engage in nonsense.🤣

i love to see smart kids, they give me hope, and if they know more than me on certain topics that's fine. My dad taught me growing up to respect ability not age

They didn't know they was a Desert in South America? We even have a desert in Kent, England!

If they would ask these questions of regular adults in any other country in the world, they would get the same responses. They make it look like only the Americans are ignorant, when actually pretty much everyone is ignorant.

To answer your question what kid would know stuff like this. I did. Not because I had strict parents, just because I was interested in that. Also were a lot of my friends. Some knew about dinosaurs, some abaout sports, some about history and so on. We were just curious.

Well, here's the thing, the only reason these kids even know the answer is because they were given before the show, since it's a show everything is stages. Plain and simple.

This is like geography WITHIN GEOGRAPHY! First you had to know that there even WAS a desert within South America AND THEN you needed to know the NAME of the driest place in the world IN that desert THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WAS THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Then you had to NAME of that driest place - which is a one I'D NEVER HEARD OF! These are truly difficult questions UNLESS YOU'RE ALREADY SMART ABOUT GEOGRAPHY! LOL! No, these kids do know their geography, I'll give them full credit. But I am too long out of school - I'll be 65 this year - and in many schools these days they're not even TEACHING American geography, let along WORLD GEOGRAPHY! I'm thinking of taking courses in geography online just so I'll be able to help teach my grandsons (who are just 4 and 2 right now). I'm with you, Ryan -- stop showing me such smart kids! LOL!

Scientifically, Antarctica the driest desert on Earth, with the Atacama being the driest place on earth, other than the poles. So the TV programme was wrong.

There is actually a difference between equatorial and pole to pole. Because it spins it bulges out on the equator so it's not actually a perfect sphere. =)

Madagasga I knew. I surmised, from a little past recollection, that the equatorial diameter of the earth was 8000 miles. The eqitorial diameter is essentially the straight line which is formed between two seperate points on the greates latitudinal distance around the earth, whilst going through its centre. The boy who came to the more or less correct answer knew it, since he couldn`t have guessed it. It might come in useful if he studies Geometry and decides to become a pilot.....

Equatorial is important in the question because the Earth is not round, it is somewhat oval (egg shaped for USA folk)

The problem with the US as a world power is that the margins always know more about the center than the center knows about the margins.

Lol....the Yanks know even less than suspected. This includes them broadcast maker and the kids. The driest place on earth is NOT in South America. The driest place in the world is in Antarctica. And it is the Plateau Ridge A.

I got question 3! I said 8000 miles, I remembered that the radius of the earth is somewhere around 6600 km so times 2 for diameter, 13 200 km which in miles is about 8 000 (take 5 eighths of 13200)

My guess for the last question was 8000 miles. I knew that the circumference is about 40k kilometers, and I managed to do some rough calculations in head. I'm proud of myself!

"why would the kid knows that" well, i dont think there's any person in EU that doesnt know the lenght of equator and diameter can be pretty easielly calculated. you can see the indian kid knew the answer in miles, but the other one knew too but in km and he propably didnt understood the question, he needed to write a diameter, not the full lenght

Atacama was easy. Madagascar needed some thoughts (10 sec). Circumference of Earth (40.000 km). French engineers measured North Pole to Equatorial and wanted that to be 10.000 km. => circumference = 40.000 km 40.000 km = 2 r * PI; diameter = 2 r. diameter = 40.000 / Pi; diameter_miles = diameter / 1.6 => 40.000 / (3.14 * 1.6) = ~ 7961 miles.

This guy didn't have a big brain but he got a beautiful eyes.

To be fair I would LOVE that these same questions are asked to random Europeans. But plenty of Americans have no idea that America is a CONTINENT and not a country. Also calling yourself Americans is saying that Mexicans and Canadians are also Americans. US Citizens is more correct don't you think.

First 2 were piece of cake, the "South America" part gave it right away. 3 one i failed, but because of unit conversion. But Americans seriously need to look outside their borders, I got a feeling that even the questions "What is Madagascar" or "Name acountry in South America" would be tough on them

Spanish here. I knew: Atacama usually nevers rains there ...but when It does, It gets full of flpwers for some weeks. AWESOME Madagascar easy one not a lot of islands and océano Índico. Ecuator is 12700km but miles??? +-8000?

"Diameter of earth"... Easy easy 12 thousand and... "in miles" Oh fuck that!

Earth diameter at equator is ~26 miles more then from pole to pole. Centrifugal force formed the planet when it was still molten.

Dear Ryan, You always make me laugh. And in addition, you are such a lovely and intelligent young man. And you have the most beautiful eyes. I think you won`t mind me saying that because I`m old enough to be your mom, and I`m a grandma :)

I am impressed with the kid that converts the diameter to miles without a calculator. Wonder how fast and accurate he can convert it to inches.

Yes, Ryan, you should be embarrassed that you didn't know them. These were ridiculously easy questions (Although we learned in school that the Earth's diameter is roughly 8,000 miles, not exactly 7926 miles). Everyone has Google Maps on their phones and computers. If you have a tiny bit of curiosity about our planet, you have looked at it a few times. Hell, if you've ever seen the Movie or cartoon show "Penguins of Madagascar" you could have been curious enough to look at a map and find Madagascar on the map. It's sad that most Americans cannot even name all the continents and oceans on a map

1) Atacama. 2) Madagascar. 3) Circumference is 40000km I don't know miles. But diameter? No clue.

The first two questions were very easy. But the third needs a bit math because we learn it in kilometers.

Indians are 'Caucasians' Ryan (whatever that means). They belong to the same ethnical and linguistic group as Swedes or Spaniards - Indo-Europeans.

I'd love to ask these kids the same questions in a few years when they have lived and see how they do. It's not so easy to know the diameter of the earth when you got three kids under five to feed, your boss is shouting at you and you're paying a mortgage or renting. Enjoy it while it lasts kids. Life catches up with you eventually.

At least in Finnish schools Earth's diameter is something that is taught to us :D So in here kids would be the one who remembers the right answer more likely than older people.

Not an American here but I got the Madagascar question right, albeit I was half-expecting it to be a trick question with the answer being Australia! 😅 Never would have got the first one about the South American desert, but I did guestimate the Earth's diameter to be somewhere in the region of 7000 miles.

Asked the equatorial diameter because as the earth is an oblate spheroid (its like a slightly squashed ball) thats more then the diameter pole to pole

You're not bad at Geography. You are American!

And that's why many people refer to U.S. citizens as USians and not Americans, for Americans - of course - know about the Atacama desert. (And let's not get started about the term "African American" for someone, who didn't know the answer was Madagascar. Whoever doesn't even know that, can impossible be African.).