Things you can’t believe your teenager doesn’t know

[Annoyingwurringnoise]

My teenage DS, who went to a Church of England primary school, does not know the song Little Donkey. I am utterly perplexed as to how this can possibly be. He’s been a donkey twice in nativity plays, once at preschool and once at school, but he swears he doesn’t remember Little Donkey.

What things have you found out your teenagers don’t know that’s just left you scratching your head in disbelief?

I'm pretty sure that there is a Simpsons episode with David and Goliath. In fact the Simpsons are pretty good for cultural references. If DD is watching them I check she gets them and if not I make an effort to educate her.

The clocks things does surprise me. Analogue clocks are all over the place, from the Houses of Parliament downwards. If I didn't know how to read one, I would teach myself.

Blood is red, whether it’s in veins or arteries. It’s never blue. No idea where this blue blood thing has come from, or how it’s spread.

I’m 52, and never saw a real pomegranate until my thirties. I knew about them from eight years of Latin and paintings, though.

Blood appears blue in veins due to less oxygen.

of course we only know what we are taught,

Not so, we know what we have encountered in lots of ways and retain. I have a real dustbin memory, the oddest things will come into my head which is very useful in the pub quiz!
Some of you may know of an American politician, Donald Rumsfeld, who made a much mocked speech about things we know we know, things we know we don't know etc., despite the reception it received I thought it made perfect sense! I will often know sonething that I didn't know I knew!

@Benjispruce4 , blood isn't blue.

@Shadope
The UK being secular is of great interest to politicians because hospitals, schools and libraries being available to the poor are a consequence of the Christian tradition. They may well go the way of universities in a secular country.

And the way red light is absorbed but that’s where I tune out! 😂

How have you arrived at this “knowledge”, and so confidently incorrect? Blood in both veins and arteries is red, not blue.

😁 This made me laugh.

Thank god for this thread as I thought it was just DS!

I worked with teens but they were low ability and had significant issues so gaps in their knowledge were to be expected. I was worried by DS though.

I think it’s because they don’t read anymore. You just picked up wider knowledge up during the course of a book. I grew up on Chalet School books that gave me a lots of geography, French and German phrases, an understanding of social niceties pre 70’s and a few girls names to add to my list of future baby names.

It’s like a vacuum tube of online content now where they only get the 30 seconds of content they’ve asked for.

I’m 33 and I don’t know the Lord’s Prayer or any of the words (other than god save the Queen) of our national anthem so neither do my children.

Of course, it's "God Save the King" now...

@Benjispruce4 are you vegetarian? Have you actually ever seen blue blood?

@jetadore I was trying to explain how someone upthread might have confused the blue blood ‘theory’ with the blue appearance of veins when deoxygenated blood is dark red and something to do with the way red light is absorbed.

Not a teen but a young man I line managed last year. In his early twenties, degree educated and in a professional job.

He understood that a person doesn't pay tax if they earn below a certain amount. All good until he told me, in all seriousness, that he was looking forward to April because he would have a bit more money for a while.

Thinking he had got muddled with when he would move up the pay scale, I explained that he wouldn't go up until September.

His response?

Yes, but I won't pay tax for a while from April because it's a new tax year so I won't have earned enough 😧I had to burst his bubble and explain that once you're in a job and paying tax, you just keep paying- they don't give you a few months off every year 😂

My 22 year ds didn’t know what a gravy boat is I discovered whilst playing trivial pursuit!

Illustrations in school text books typically show (or did when I was at school) arteries as red and veins as blue. I think the confusion comes from that.

Where could that notion have come from?

TBH - I have learnt a lot of stuff from You Tube videos that I had no idea about. You don't need to read books to learn

I was shocked to realise that my DD didn't know who Pluto was. I thought every child knew that Pluto is Mickey Mouse's dog, but evidently the kids don't watch those Disney cartoons any more.

Have you ever had a blood test?

Did you see the colour of the blood?

Where do you think that blood is coming from?

Watched a program about the holocaust and some German teenagers were asked about it and many didn't have a clue.

I taught in a secondary school and far too many children believed that teachers live in the school - many also believe that all my friends were other teachers at the same school and were shocked that I'd married someone who wasn't a teacher at the school. I once got asked what I do for a living...by a student...during a lesson...and they were shocked that I got paid to be there and they didn't.

Absolutely none of the answers on this thread surprise me.

@cakeorwine I said blood appears blue through your veins! Deoxygenated blood is less bright, it’s dark red.

Never heard of any of those three people.

Your point is a good one. We are all going to be ignorant of people/things we don’t come across in our lives.

In terms of individuals, a tiny handful will remain relevant to the masses (20th century you are looking at Hitler, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and that’s probably it... Elvis in 200 years time?... “Elvis who?” is my bet). Almost all famous people of today will be forgotten. From a pop culture perspective (ie. the arts), Shakespeare is the one above all others who has stood the test of time.