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?

Not in the UK, I'm sure.

We had this the other day, so we all watched Fight Club.
Now they know.

It did when I was growing up. Learned loads from random and not always appropriate TV shows.
Not for ours, we don't have live TV services, only streaming and very rarely watch anything together and then it's a film. Usually DCs are watching various series on their own.
I do feel like we miss out.

I did watch a lot of Call the Midwife with DD and found that very educational in terms of the different conversations it started (some rather awkward).

I remember little donkey from when I was in infants school. It's a fairly simple and repetitive song to remember. I played Mary when I was six in top infants so associate it with that. Only the top infants were in the school play.

My own kids went to a special needs school. They always did they're own version of a nativity. But little donkey was always involved. As well as follow that Star tonight.

I worked with a man of 40 who didn't know that the 'grooming' had any other meaning than what paedophiles do to prepare a victim. He was really shocked and angry when I said I knew how to groom a horse. He said it was 'sick' to joke about something like that. I explained I wasn't joking, and got the office Collins Dictionary to show him. I also showed him a picture of a curry comb.

To settle arguments!

Little donkey, little donkey
On the dusty road
Gotta keep on plodding onward
With your precious load
Been a long time little donkey
Through the winters night
Don't give up now little donkey
Bethlehem's in sight
Ring out those bells tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem
Follow that little star tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem
Little donkey, little donkey
Had a heavy day
Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way
Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her-
Little donkey, little donkey
Journey's end is near
There's a guiding star up in the
Heaven shining clear
Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way
Little donkey, carry Mary safely on her way

14 year old had heard of mother teresa but though she was a fictional character - like mother earth, but specific to trees!!

Expensive education paying off😫

I was a little startled to meet highly intelligent 18-year-old university students, who had never heard of the story of the Good Samaritan.

I met someone who thought that St Hilda's College was named after Margaret Hilda Thatcher.

But some people (including me!) have always had surprising pockets of ignorance. I remember a classmate in the 1970s who thought that the UK was the short name for the Soviet Union. Another thought that Napoleon was a former Prime Minister of the UK.

My DS was taught that blood is blue until it hits the air, in primary school. Took a lot of convincing from me (a nurse) that it really, really isn't. So much so, that I started to doubt myself. But I've seen blood on the inside of people (cameras during scoping procedures) and it was still red then.

If even teachers are telling them this, we can't blame the kids.

St Hilda's College in Oxford - though the idea of Margaret Hilda Thatcher being 'St Hilda' in any context is pretty startling.

My 14yo C of E attending school child has also never heard of Good King Wenceslas - what a disgrace!!!

Does know Little Donkey, though.

@ToWhitToWhoo i don’t really expect people to know bible stories though. Freedom from religion is taken very seriously in some households. So unless this intelligent 18 year old grew up with religious parents or studied religious studies in school, where would they have heard it.

I learnt is at awful Sunday school - my family are now all atheist so I would be surprised if my beloved and nephews knew this parable.

And by religious of course I mean Christian. There are a lot of other religions out there - perhaps this intelligent 18 year old isn’t christian?

Watching 911 with my otherwise bright tweenage step daughter “as if people just know their address like that” she said.

Some back and forth established she did not in fact know any relevant family address, including her own, in full.

It’s been correct since but did shock me!

Haha don't know anything about cricket.
An ostler was someone that looked after the horses at an inn when travellers arrived.

Our crackers went one better with the pun, the punchline was "deep pan, crisp and even..."

It’s definitely not!

Not exactly teenager but the 21 year old in work hadn't heard of 9/11 and that floored me.

A fully fledged adult. I felt so old at that moment.

A sign of intelligence is curiosity and it’s worrying how many younger people lack any curiosity outside their own little bubble

To an extent this is true, but people tend to think that because they are not interested in the things they are interested in, they must be thick or self-absorbed (or both). No, they're just interested in different things.

I did laugh out loud about the penguins though. Just shows that an ability to pass exams does not = common sense. But then we knew that.

I do think some of the lack of knowledge is due to the absence of reading books though.

l'm amazed at people on here who think King Charles III is the king of England.

I do agree with this . In the past younger people spent more time with older people . One room in the house heated , one TV in the house.
There was no mobile phones to distract from old people's conversations .
It was incredibly boring but there you are .

My 18yo didn't know how to address and stamp an envelope! The stamp was on the back! Gobsmacked. It didn't really matter anyway as I sent them to post it themselves and the put it in the poo bin as opposed to the postbox AS IT WAS RED. Speechless

But having 'followers' is irrelevant if they haven't done something of note either good or otherwise.
They belong to that body of knowledge I am very proud to say I don't have, or want!

My 12 year old neice asked me on Christmas day if I had ever heard of that really old singer Britney Spears.

And she is absolutely right.