To be concerned about education when

[careeristbitchnigel]

The 18 year old i'm working with (english)

• could not tell me the name of the Queen
  
• did not know that the UK was an island
  
• did mot know that London is our capital city
  

My colleague and i were literally

[JodieGarberJacob]

Agree clash. I'm wondering if there are any other countries in the world that are as confusing as ours! The individual countries that make up our sovereign state are mainly known internationally in football, cricket etc. not politically. Do you describe yourself to a foreigner as Scottish, English etc or British? Is a Northern Irish person British? And why is our currency GBP and not UKP? How do the Northern Irish feel about that? I'm not surprised an 18 year old can't answer questions about our heritage when so many of us can't!

[ClashCityRocker]

I'm going to compound issues further....

So, is England (or Scotland, Wales, NI) a country in it's own right? And then the UK is therefore not a country, but a collective of countries under common government?

Excuse my ignorance, I've just always wondered.

[ApocalypseThen]

TBF a lot of young people girls especially know more about kim kardashian than the queen quite sad really

What's the difference between one celebrity and another?

[SpottieDottie]

I'd be concerned about her education and her motivation an interest in general knowledge and affairs but education doesn't start or end with school.

[LineRunner]

They have acid for blood and can change their body shape seemingly at will.

[ImAThrillseekerBunny]

They're aliens off of Star Trek.

[ComposHat]

hidden I gave this problem. I know that Kardashians exist and feature in Heat and tabloids, but no one can explain why or how they are famous, other than one of them has a big arse and her dad got OJ Simpson off a murder rap.

[hiddenhome]

What's a Kardashian?

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

What is the name of the Queen?

Dave

[TucsonGirl]

A lot of young girls seem to think that being stupid is endearing and fake it. God knows why.

[rinabean]

I'm sure she was taking the piss. Even 5 year olds find this kind of quiz annoying but at least it's appropriate to grill them on what they've been learning. She's 18 for christ's sake!

[isitsnowingyet]

What is the name of the Queen?

[BlackeyedSusan]

ex was talking to dd and saying how nice it would be to live on an island.

I was: ermm we do live on an island

[ComposHat]

Op

Given that your short post contains two grammatical errors and a factual error , I wouldn't be too smug/judgemental.

[Dramatic]

I just asked my 6yo and she knew the answers to all of them, I fail to see how someone can get to 18 without knowing that.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I suspect part of it came up in conversation and then she was grilled.

I'm not totally sure what it has to do with the education system either. There's probably loads of stuff I learnt at school that I've forgotten and others have remembered and vice versa. It's not necessarily a reflection on the school or the system of education. If I'm honest I'm not sure all that time I spent in yr 3 colouring in maps of the Channel Islands and the UK was time well spent.

[Boaty]

Not surprised at all, I work with a 21 year old who astounds us with her lack of knowledge and observations, she is the sweetest girl you could hope to meet but totally blinkered to the world beyond her immediate surroundings. She is at university!
it does keep us amused though

[elvenbread]

OP. What gives you the right to judge? Perhaps we should judge your punctuation and other glaring errors.

[treaclesoda]

Would a comma there not imply that NI isn't part of the UK?

[ImAThrillseekerBunny]

Whilst the British Isles is a phrase which understandably pisses a lot of Irish people off, it is a handy phrase to express what subject a child who thinks that Dublin is the capital of Northern Ireland needs to revise.

[Edendance]

I met a 23 year old doctor trainee who had no idea who/what tutankhamun was, I was shocked to say the least!

[Thetimes123]

I thought there was an important comma
The United Kingdom of Great Britain, and Norther Ireland.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

Rafa

I am just curious as to whether the OP and her colleagues have these conversations all the time or are having fun at the expense of the younger age groups.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I have to say Boney I don't think this has ever come up as a topic of conversation at work. The only time we got close was when HR wanted a copy of a valid UK or EU passport and I wasn't sure if I had one as mine says British Islands and the CI aren't or weren't technically part of the EU. Turns out they didn't actually mean UK, they meant British. They 18 year old and the OP aren't the only people to get the political and geographical terms mixed up. Most of the time it's not really important though.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

So you and a colleague are firing/asking questions at an 18 yr old. we have no context, nor do we have any reason for you doing this.

Do you do this to other colleagues or just 18 yr. olds?
Why is the 18 yr. old not a colleague?
TBH honest without any context, it sounds like you are belittling the 18 yr. old, you may even be bullying them.