What Was It Like Before Compulsory Education?

[@marauder7209]

"More than a hundred years ago" Technically correct

[@berdwatcher5125]

no no, hes got a point.

[@ComicSams48]

The *best kind* of correct!

[@WMDistraction]

This was my exact thought😂 As a teacher, I know I would’ve taken a second to collect my thoughts and responded, “Not… wrong.”

[@FiXato]

A math teacher would probably still say it's wrong because it lacks precision ;)

[@travismyers3396]

Reminds me of that Rick and Morty episode where the math teacher is like "Morty, that's exactly correct! Five times nine *is* at least forty!"

[@TimPortantno]

These are all perfect Fable NPC lines

[@keenansisson211]

Bowerstone is in Albion, and Albion is in Bowerstone.. but I don’t know which part.

[@keenansisson211]

Samarkand is in Oakvale I think, or maybe in Knothole Glade?

[@keenansisson211]

I’ve heard of William Black, but I don’t really know who he was, and I don’t particularly care.

[@keenansisson211]

I don’t know what’s the difference between the Temple of Avo and the Temple of Light.

[@LiliumCruorem]

OI? Is that chicken chaser?

[@suburbanbanshee]

Also, there are a lot of essays from back then, that mention how English people would often respond to stupid questions (from strangers wasting their time, particularly) with stupid answers, delivered with a straight face. The game was to say something really outrageous and see if the stupid stranger would buy it. Extra points if it was a rich twit who was not tipping people for wasting their time. So I am not saying Mayhew was a stranger asking stupid intrusive questions... But probably that is how he came across. And a lot of these answers sound like they were playing him, and that he just didn't get it.

[@writingtotortureyou]

Yeah the ones that said they didn’t know who Jesus was or what Christianity was sounds like bunk. There are churches all over England and Jesus is probably the most famous figure in western culture.

[@nn3514]

​@writingtotortureyou I agree. That sounded a bit suspicious to me too

[@trumpslefttitty]

I wonder where that got lost in translation over time! It’s well documented that part of the reason Americans and Brits have a hard time communicating is because both cultures are particularly sarcastic, but in vastly different ways. “Playing dumb” is the most prevalent form of American sarcasm and Brits tend to take that at face value, as if all Americans are just stupid and lack common sense. I’d be curious to know when the cultural consciousness in Britain switched to sarcasm mocking dumbness to sarcasm mocking poor manners. The upper class was almost certainly doing it first, but I wonder when everyone else caught on.

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

Do you have a link to these essays or names etc? Would be interested to read one.

[@LucasFernandez-fk8se]

Love that they had pre historic trolling back then 👏. I’d 100% do the same shit today if I got asked a street interview question 🤷‍♂️

[@svenska81]

My grandfather emigrated from Sweden in the late 1800s, with a 3rd grade education. As his children went to school (all 10 of them) he would sit with them shadowing their school work. He and Mor-mor learned to read, write and speak English, learned a lot of history, science and mathematics. All 10 graduated from high school, and all 20 of their grandchildren graduated from college.

[@misskate3815]

I’m really bad at math, so when I help my brother with his schoolwork, I ask HIM to explain it to ME. And I still don’t understand math, but he’s really improving.

[@niclasjohansson5992]

​@@misskate3815 do you write mor-mor and not mormor? What a crazy world we live in!

[@johnchandler1687]

@@niclasjohansson5992 Wasn't Othello a mormor?

[@flamenmartialis6839]

​@@johnchandler1687Othelllo is desribed as a moor, black african or arabic.

[@benmalatin5237]

That last line feels like something a shopkeeper in a video game says to you as you pass his shop.

[@LUNE.44]

I was thinking it reminds me of fallout 4 when you ask in diamond city if anyone knows anything about your son

[@DepressinglyOptimistic]

I thought the same. It's in Fable 2, I swear

[@angelsdontkill113]

The OG NPC

[@w花b]

​@@LUNE.44SHAUN! WHERE'S SHAAAUUUN?!

[@AssassinPinapple]

Reminded me of the first couple episodes of Castlevania. The civilians in Gresit I think.

[@Enderborn272]

I love how this highlights both practicality and ignorance. Like, most of these people are just saying "i dont know that, why whould I?" And just not caring about the things they think that don't impact their lives.

[@freelancerthe2561]

@@Cherrycreamsoda1 It reminds me of that "book learnin" line about Americans, just in how it encapsulates the stereotype of the traditionalist, independent tradesman that thinks nothing of the world, until it affects their business.

[@scorchercast8366]

Hence why Americans don’t know geography. Non of y’all really have any meaningful impact on our day to day and for most people never will.

[@bajjajajbajjjajaj6473]

@@freelancerthe2561pretty blissful existence you ask me

[@onelonelypickle]

Even today there are lots of KZbin videos of random questions being asked of people on the street who give stupid answers... nothing has changed. There will always be stupid people in society, lol

[@MR-ym3hg]

@@onelonelypickleI'd argue it's not necessarily stupidity, it's likely ignorance (in these historical accounts). Smart people are ignorant of what they had no opportunity to learn. It's also possible to be stupid and ignorant of course, but in these examples, we can't know.

[@FlameDarkfire]

“I never heard of Christianity” I’m sure the vicar on the nearby corner dropped his tea hearing that

[@niclasjohansson5992]

That one and the one not knowing about Jesus are the crazier ones

[@rationallyruby]

@@niclasjohansson5992I know it’s hard to imagine but not everyone shares your world view. Many people don’t know who Jesus is. Not surprising.

[@THEDrew-trek]

This was in 1851​@@rationallyruby

[@painvillegaming4119]

@@rationallyrubyyeah no even if ain’t Christian you know who Jesus is it not a world view thing so don’t make it that Especially when your live England a Christian dominant country Like that a level of clueless I didn’t even believe it was possible Then again all of this could have possible being trolling

[@rationallyruby]

@@painvillegaming4119 🙄 I’m sorry that’s difficult for you to understand but there’s many tribes and cultures where Jesus isn’t known or talked about…

[@leonemaledetto1500]

The main difference in my eyes is that people used to know they were ignorant. Now everyone walks around like they are an expert, even when they have no knowledge or skill.

[@jsw973]

Probably because after all the suffering they endured in school (and maybe in university), surely they're an expert at something, right? Right???

[@leonemaledetto1500]

@@jsw973 but usually that's not the case

[@RC15O5]

Best comment here.

[@plantidentificationnewzeal9032]

Lol, I'm at university and it's depressing the prospects of my fellow classmates

[@anyaharris5617]

Bravo

[@bernardli9514]

It really does seem like Henry Mayhew was interviewing people the same way Late night TV asks people to find countries on a map.

[@SamAronow]

My first thought exactly. Victorian Jaywalking!

[@sanctionh2993]

Same here. I figured todays answers wouldnt be that much different then today's.

[@melanisticmandalorian]

OR Rick Mercer, doing his "talking to americans".

[@elroma7712]

​@@sanctionh2993Than, the word is THAN not THEN! Dios mío

[@amandatownsend5132]

To be fair studies have shown if your asked an unexpected question like that you have a high chance of your brain just blanking even if you know full well what the answer is so take street interviews with a heavy grain of salt

[@MatrixEvolution17]

"I don't know what the pope is... It's nothing to me when he's no customer of mine" that's kind of a badass line ngl

[@falconeshield]

Man if only only governments were truly secular. People should be able to chose their religion or none

[@SamAronow]

It sounds like a line from _Deadwood._ It's even in iambic pentameter!

[@huasohvac]

Honestly sounds like a line from a Monty Python skit

[@Qwerty0791]

Sounds like something straight out of Black Adder

[@Mayakran]

It’s badass until you realize it means this person has no idea who a man who has power over a large portion of the planet’s population is.

[@justinchristoph3725]

When you are struggling to survive, several things don't hold much importance.

[@HolgerJakobs]

Nowadays there are far too many people with too much time to think about all kinds of nonsense. They even find time to make videos about that nonsense.

[@tesmith47]

Including imaginary god

[@e5858]

@@tesmith47Eh, faith’s useful, imaginary or not.

[@childofcascadia]

@e5858 I agree. And I dont believe in a god that gives a flying fig about humans or what they do. But having a personal faith in something, whatever that is - and demanding everyone all follow your faith or live according to its rules are two wildly seperate things. Everyone has a right to live their life according to the rules of their personal faith. But the right to do that stops when you start telling others who dont follow that belief what to do.

[@celsopinheiro]

​@@e5858it is imaginary.

[@K.H.Joseph]

We still have adults with 10 + yrs of schooling who can't answer those questions

[@whyamIaraccoon]

Came here to say that

[@dave2.077]

americans

[@tetra.]

I bet 50% of Americans now still don’t know where Naples is 😂

[@ozzy9410]

@@tetra.It’s the learning culture of the US, “We have everything we could ever need here, why go somewhere else?”. It’s the distance too, I doubt anyone from Budapest, Hungary knows what the capital of North Dakota & South Dakota is, or that there were even two Dakotas. Not many know any provinces and states of other North American nations, like Bahaj California & Coahuila from Mexico, or mix up how Ottawa is a city and Ontario is a Province.

[@tetra.]

@@ozzy9410 It's not really comparable, I don't think. It's different from someone in budapest not knowing about dakotas, it's more similar to someone in budapest not knowing about new york. Naples is a very famous city (although I suppose one could refer to the region as well, it usually means the city).

[@D4NC3Rable]

Some of these answers were stupid, but some of them were absolute power moves.

[@FoxhoundAK74]

I'd wager some of them were just deliberately messing with the interviewer.

[@justinfleming5119]

I was thinking that these people probably had a firmer grasp on their political interests than today's citizens.

[@bubbatools6701]

​@@justinfleming5119facts

[@FlatOnHisFace]

@@FoxhoundAK74 They were out there trollin' before the Internet got rollin'.

[@darkriku12]

​@@justinfleming5119well yeah, people today would rather hear others' opinions on bills and even the Constitution for much much longer than it takes just to read the damn things.

[@Kanerade]

I'll be honest and say that I wouldn't be surprised if I heard the one about Naples today

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Especially in America…

[@thewitchstarot6975]

@@bob_the_bomb4508 as a European, I don't even know where Naples is. British people don't like stereotypes, so why do stereotypes about Americans?

[@finv10]

​@@thewitchstarot6975british people fit most of the sterotypes lets face it and also if you're in europe how do you not know where Naples is

[@allanrichardson1468]

Country singer Kelly Pickler was a celebrity contestant on the defunct quiz show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader,” in which a panel of genius fifth graders tried to help each adult contestant with various elementary school questions in a set of categories, from first through fifth grade levels. Contestants were eliminated if they missed a question, but at certain levels they could “drop out of school” and take home their winnings so far, much like the more successful “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Kelly got up to the last question OK, then chose Fifth Grade Geography, and called the last and smartest kid to be her helper. The question was “Of which country in Europe is Budapest the capital?” While discussing the question aloud, she revealed thinking that Europe “was a country” and never having heard of Budapest, and finally allowed her partner to save her. He got the correct answer , Hungary, and won her the money for her charity. Then she admitted not knowing that “hungry was a country!” Still, she was smarter than the uneducated folks in the 19th century.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

@@thewitchstarot6975 “British people don’t like stereotypes” Oh, the irony…

[@germanus7302]

Do more! I swear I've heard half of these in post compulsory education world and it's hilarious 😂

[@towardcivicliteracy]

Nowadays, you can hear them at Ivy League schools.

[@BaronVonDergner]

"Every 60 seconds in 19th-century London, one minute passes."

[@SoralTheSol]

As a retail worker I still encounter people like this.

[@connordrake5713]

And they had education too. But it's still same results.

[@_WayneTheWizard_]

i see your 12 years of education got you far (jk dude, I ain't a smart one myself)

[@aname4681]

Same

[@fudgyboo]

​@@connordrake5713almost like thats the joke they were making

[@Jettrey]

When I was working in retail, this older guy came in a few times asking for gluten. What a world we live in.

[@Tehom1]

The main thing that jumps out is that they readily admitted when they didn't know.

[@Cdh2007]

More humble probably

[@abandonedalienlizardbaby]

There was no internet to publicly scrutinize their responses.

[@tewkie7955]

no one would ever do that today

[@user-wh6bg8yb8x]

​@@user-kc4bu2bf2t naaaah, they probably would still beat the living crap out of you if you ever told them they were wrong about something they felt they knew , the dumber they are the less dumb they think they are for the most part , it is a sad part of human nature 😅

[@UnIimited_Power]

Oh here we go 😅

[@patrickfenno426]

I could watch an hour of this.

[@RandomCommentMakerPerson]

I would watch 24 hours of this

[@Uriellico]

You could read Henry Mayhew's books. I think these quotations comes from "London Labour and the London Poor". This book is quite a bible for however would like to write a fiction about Victorian London, since was a common reference book for authors like Charles Dickens, Alan Moore and Terry Pratchett

[@gajjit5156]

This is a nice reminder that systems of logic didn’t just pop up out of nowhere

[@lemon8577]

Bro "no customer of mine" line is such an NPC Fable thing to say and I'm cackling

[@kaicantbreathe]

RIGHT OMG

[@Frankie._.164]

I kinda respect it tbh he really just said i don't know him and don't give a shit

[@jonslg240]

What it was like after compulsory education: Men can be men or women. Women can be women or men. Either one can be both or none of the above. Anything you say against 1 certain ideology will get you banned. (It's always been like that, though) Parents should have zero rights regarding what their children are being taught. The kids are property of the government.

[@reintempest2552]

All I can think about is some merchant with his arms crossed while saying that line😭

[@kalexander1981]

Chicken chaser?

[@sima4162]

This is actually a good idea to think about if you're writing a fantasy novel. Some books act like the average person in a fantasy world is able to give a lore dump at the drop of a hat. But in reality, they probably wouldn't know or even care much about their own country's history or religion it doesn't directly affect them or their family.

[@whocares427]

100%. Makes for way more funny and interesting conversations, too. It reminds me of a battle in the English Civil War, after it had already been going for some time. One side was setting up near a field, and one of the officers talked to a local farmer and explained that there was going to be a battle between parliamentary forces and the royalists. His response was reportedly "What, has they two fallen out again?". So he was aware of the existence of the King and Parliament, and was vaguely aware that they bickered, but he hadn't even heard there was a war happening yet. People always overestimate how much ordinary people care about high drama when it doesn't directly impact their lives. "Powerful people are always fighting, why should I keep up with it" is a common sentiment.

[@mrjones2721]

People forget that our current state of general knowledge is possible only because we have near-universal basic literacy, cheap books, and an active press that’s been putting out daily or weekly papers for a couple-few centuries now. Without that, there’s a limit to how much history a community’s collective memory can hold. History gets boiled down to stories that are often more entertaining than they are accurate, and they get distorted as the times change and elements make less sense to people in the present. Your questing hero may stop by the pub to get his lore dump and come away with the local equivalent of George Washington and the cherry tree. Some cultures value retelling histories and do a better job of passing on knowledge. In places like early America and England, a lot of that itch is scratched by stories from the Bible-from a local lore standpoint, useless. So your hero may get an earful of stuff that he thinks is The Key to It All, except that it happened thousands of miles away in a completely irrelevant country.

[@MerkhVision]

That’s a great point!

[@katokianimation]

Another thing i hate that, everybody is a sceptic or agnostic about magic in a low fantasy world. "Oh yeah demons, dragons, i donno, maybe a 1000 years ago who knows. Probably just tales. You are a silly boy to belive that you can find magic in the realm" While irl people belived that werewolfs were people so possesed by Satan even the by standers shared their hallucination😅

[@pvp6077]

This, all of this ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[@emmadrew3911]

Honestly as someone else said I love that they weren’t ashamed to admit what they didn’t know. We need more of thst

[@racheljensen1823]

These sound identical to answers from my modern students lol

[@NorseGraphic]

They claim there are more than two genders… And math is racist…. 🙄

[@waterzap99]

You will get the same answers today after 12 yrs of school. Even college kids can't identify the US on a map.

[@schoo9256]

"He's no customer of mine" is ICONIC. we need a whole series on these responses

[@DLlama]

Watch any tv host or comedian do an "asking people on the street" bit and it's roughly the same We've changed... but not by much 😂

[@schoo9256]

@DLlama yeah I just love history of everyday life because it makes the past feel closer, despite the completely different culture. It helps remind me exactly of what you just said :)

[@hippojuice23]

Stop misusing the word iconic!

[@schoo9256]

@@hippojuice23 my ability to use 'iconic' in the colloquial sense is on fleek

[@hippojuice23]

@@schoo9256 you're no customer of mine.

[@pinkopansy]

"it's nothing to me when hes no customer of mine" is how i want to respond to news about any famous person tbh

[@marzipanmerci1068]

I've used that response a lot of times. It's going great when you start practicing it. (But make sure you already grew out of FOMO phase)

[@bland9876]

The Kardashians would be a perfect person to use this on.

[@berdwatcher5125]

@@bland9876 the kardashians are over rated as hell

[@KL-hr2kj]

I'm gonna start using this line

[@osnapitzmaia]

how do i grow out of the fomo phase PLEASE@@marzipanmerci1068

[@ernststravoblofeld]

In the US, we have a major political party trying to bring this back.

[@NorseGraphic]

You can see it in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Portland. I wonder about the common denominator. 🧐

[@ernststravoblofeld]

@@NorseGraphic I haven't heard of any book bans in any of those cities. But do go on...

[@sorenpx]

The Dems are truly regressive.

[@twolfstwolfvian2505]

I think you could still walk up to a few people today and ask them the same questions, and I think the answers would probably be similar.

[@bkroberts89]

KZbin has shown us that street interviews really haven’t changed.

[@eeeertoo2597]

@@farqueleyou7578Famously there were no prostitutes back in the old days. Fact of the matter is that the average person today knows more and benefits society more than some serf living and dying on the same lot of land, facts that you just cant accept yet

[@anny8720]

@@farqueleyou7578and you know their occupations how? The amount of people making a living off onlyfans and social media is pretty darn low

[@dynogamergurl]

Was just thinking the same thing

[@sh-ehmed]

​@@eeeertoo2597knows more, yes, but the benefit part will require a lot of statistics averaged to back it up.

[@Moses_VII]

​@@eeeertoo2597A modern person is more productive because we have modern machines which increase our output for the same amount of input.

[@lydianicolenorwick125]

He asked them if they knew things and they said "That's none of my business"

[@alexia3552]

I love that

[@meadowl]

it's really fascinating actually, nowadays it's seen as a virtue to know as much as possible about basically everything, but back then if it wasn't crucial it wasn't worth your time. i wonder if that was a purely organic cultural thing, or if it was engineered to keep serfs in line by not letting them know too much

[@pvp6077]

And they were right. It had nothing to do with any of their businesses.

[@meadowl]

​@@pvp6077 maybe if we ignore the whole "preserving humanity's knowledge" thing, there's still the fact that everything is connected. if aerospace engineers knew nothing about biology, nobody could make it to space. besides, british history is none of my business but i'm still subbed to this channel cause i like learning new things

[@ViolentAurora]

​@meadowl It seems throughout history, this attitude differs and fluctuates depending where you were and when. Which is also interesting. While other communities emphasized learning things and practicing skills, others would segregate education and teach only one skill to one person.

[@lucehleblanc]

As a person on the left in the Midwest, I see a lot of similarities between this and rural folk. I often drive thru rural areas. The way they live makes it clear that all that matters is survival. I don’t blame them.

[@Spheronic]

Moral of the story: People don't really give a shit about anything beyond their immediate life, unless you tell them about it.

[@rm2kking]

One of them is funny because it’s correct. The first man and woman ever made who lived MUST have been more than a hundred years ago. Just so happens it’s a LOT more than a hundred years ago, but it sure is more than a hundred.

[@jamesredmond7001]

Technically correct can be the best kind of correct.

[@rylieread1865]

​@@jamesredmond7001 i got a trivia question right on a technicality, and it's still one of my prouder moments 😂 question was: these two bands each had hit songs containing what word in the title? No one in my group knew the intended answer, so I was like, "Put 'the.' There's no way one of them doesn't have a song with the word 'the' in the title. And if they don't count it, I'm gonna fight 'em." And when they read the answer, they were like, "The correct answer is 'middle,' and also a point to the two teams who put 'the.' Ope, and I think we can tell which two teams they are," as we cheered loudly in smartass self satisfaction.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

The creationists who simply add up the reigns of the Kings of Israel in the Bible and there you have it - the origins of civilisation on Earth. What's 'evolution' anyway? Daft concept.

[@andrewguthrie2]

@@rylieread1865 Stealers Wheel and The Pretenders?

[@bricknolty5478]

There was no first man and woman, that's not now evolution works.

[@daisybasket450]

But let's be honest. Some people who go to school for 12 years today would still give similar answers. 😂

[@Junior-vt9ly]

They still do

[@mattpassos5689]

They can force them to be there physically but not mentally

[@KazehareRaiden]

Yeah. A youtuber talked to some UCLA students and they didn't know where the Atlantic ocean was located

[@da1stamericus]

​@@KazehareRaidenthat would be me half the time. I've always been bad at geography and history. Chem was fun and biology. But that's cause I liked those subjects.

[@Aprlrain9987]

Not all the people saying that they’ve seen a homosapien once, terrible thing it was, or how we need to find a way to live along side homosapiens. 😂

[@ludwiglanestudios]

Most people don't know many of the subjects in those statements after 12+years of compulsory education. Especially in the current US public school system.

[@peterlee6391]

And this, ladies and gents is how Monty Python got so funny.

[@Lobsterist]

I feel like half of these responses were polite "why are you asking me questions. Buy something or go away"

[@zorohibiki]

he probably did in college i had to do a poll of small shop owners for a group project they easiest way to get them to answer was buying something before asking the questions at a cafe i sit drink a coffee on a dollar store bought a lot of small items i buy candy for halloween at a candy store shop owners are more willing to give 5 minutes of their time to a client than to a random guy

[@LaPrincipessaNuova]

Sounds like in a video game when you talk to a shopkeeper. I can picture stepping away and then stepping back up to the counter and the shopkeeper repeats the same thing again in the same exact tone.

[@outoforbit-]

Yes, well spotted. A mild rebuke perhaps for asking a stupid question.

[@amazinggrapes3045]

These responses aren't even that farfetched from how I've known people to actually be like on the Internet and in Philadelphia

[@iCuddleAfter6]

That "god not making the sea" line will live in perpetuity in my mind

[@daviddeane2923]

If you actually read Genesis it literally does not say anything about God creating the sea. Separating land from sea, sure. But the sea (“the deep”) was there before God starts creating. It’s literally in the text, but people have been trained theologically not to notice.

[@whoknows4780]

Confirmed: Yahweh evolved from the primordial ocean, just like we did.

[@seigeengine]

Arguably it does, in that God creates the seas as we know it by dividing the pre-existing water into that which exists inside the heavens and that which exists outside the heavens, and then separating the water inside the heavens into land and sea. The water though? That was already there. @@daviddeane2923

[@Scarletraven87]

... ahm ... there is no god.

[@SpySappingMyKeyboard]

It's a `trope' of ancient creation myths, that the sea represents chaos and nothingness. Remember, they were not space-faring peoples, so the sea fills a simnilar idea of "nothing" in the ancient imagination that "the void of outer space" has in ours.

[@sgnosymfoemos]

Jay Leno went out on the streets too and they still said sh*t like this

[@echognomecal6742]

The stark difference being that people knew they didn't know instead of being under the impression they have a clue.

[@lessons_in_tanya]

Excellent observation

[@lumburgapalooza]

These are the most British sentences I've ever heard.

[@ChristoferKelly]

Other than that they're being spoken by an Englishwoman, and the geography references, in what way are they especially British ?

[@lumburgapalooza]

@@ChristoferKelly There's a tone of blunt, deadpan honesty with a sprinkle of cynicism. They all sound like lines from Dickens.

[@ChristoferKelly]

@@lumburgapalooza Ah yeah, OK, I see what you're getting at.

[@O-bearer-mine]

Lord, grant me the suave and charisma to commit powermoves like an uneducated 1850s briton with tuberculosis

[@eclat4641]

Ever … Erd!

[@jacobmonks3722]

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." - Mark Twain

[@chie970]

One who won't read can read if he fall into a situation that forces them to read. One who can't read won't be able to do the same. Sounds like a clear advantage to me, albeit a niche what if

​@@chie970the one who will not read is defined by refusing to do it.

[@thisiswhatilike54]

@@chie970If it’s that niche, then it’s not an advantage

[@mayamartin7359]

I say the one who can’t read might have an advantage because at least there’s a chance they’re teachable. The one who won’t read is a willful ignoramus and an incurable ass.

[@ReclaimingVigil]

@Exactly

[@towerbunga]

Why am I imagining this like a modern-day interviewer tiktok picking interviews with random people on the street

[@notabot8581]

lol those answers sounds like those street trivia interviews where people can’t name 3 countries

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

Now imagine if everyone got 12 years of _good_ education.

[@mhm77887]

Hard to imagine tbh

[@thatpanfairy7176]

At this rate you’d have better luck balancing an elephant on a knitting needle on your nose. The government doesn’t care about education they care about making mindless droid workers who listen to their every word and line their pockets before worrying about the people.

[@MegaMech]

Not with our current system. The education field in academics are totally f'd.

[@tylerpotts9087]

Nah, should go back to only schooling to the 8th grade.

[@MegaMech]

@@tylerpotts9087 I'd say we need focused and specialized education. Not necessary ending at 8th grade

[@plaidshirt9955]

Holy shit, I could read an entire book made up of just this.

[@darrennew8211]

You know, if you put in his name, the year, and the word "interview" into Google, it finds you the book he wrote. It's not like she's repeating these from a tradition of word-of-mouth stories.

[@kenlandon6130]

@@darrennew8211 Who?

[@quokka_yt]

​@@kenlandon6130Henry Mayhew.

[@BouncingTribbles]

Rick Mercer: talking to Americans. The average person hasn't really changed that much

[@michellebyrom6551]

​@@darrennew8211yeah. Its a major historical document because it describes London as the poorest in society knew it. The underbelly of the Empire.

[@blakemirowski500]

This is the best npc dialogue.

[@jipillow1]

I really like all the practical views on religion

[@DrmMemesGaming]

This just sounds like things you’d hear every day on love island.

[@gracepearl3379]

😂 that’s so true!!!

[@solitaire10]

I've never watched the show but that's so mean. Hilarious 😂😂😂

[@hunterdragon7210]

?

[@SnailHatan]

Bet those lot think they’re on Love Ireland and just have no idea what Ireland is supposed to look like

[@calumwatt4360]

At least there was some logic applied to the sun and the moon question. The cognitive ability and potential is always there and it is a tragedy when education is not applied to it.

[@anyawillowfan]

Yes, and no. What difference would it have made to their life, if they'd known what we know about the sun and moon, etc?

[@Qwerty0791]

@@anyawillowfan…. Literally everything. The origins of life. Gravity. That the earth is a sphere… LIKE the sun, LIKE the moon. Organic chemistry relies on this interaction, so you go into oxygen-assisted energy transfer, and also chemistry - how nukes work like the sun. Seasons are dictated by the moon, as are ocean levels. You’re also introduced to trigonometry by using shadows, so you learn how to calculate distance.

[@MisterAppleEsq]

​@@anyawillowfanMakes me think of how Sherlock Holmes doesn't know the Earth revolves around the sun, because what use is that for solving crimes?

[@anyawillowfan]

@@Qwerty0791 @Qwerty0791 I'm not saying education is a bad thing (though I do believe that, for many of us, we assume that what we are taught in school is correct and factual, regardless of later discoveries, because we hold education (not knowledge) as the pinnacle of success), but that, for the majority of us, we don't need to know how a phone works to appreciate what it gives us, just as not knowing about the sun doesn't mean we can't appreciate what that we need it to grow our crops and keep us warm. Not knowing trigonometry (as many of us only know very little of it, if any at all), doesn't prevent us from living meaningful lives.

[@anyawillowfan]

@@MisterAppleEsq That was pretty much my point. I love learning, but sometimes it's harder knowing what we don't know, than simply knowing enough to stay alive and enjoy our lives.

[@kitK2tty]

Social media has shown me things have not changed all that much.

[@bobmcbob49]

All from the people saying "we were never taught how to do taxes in school" when I went to school with them and remember we were required to take 2 classes that heavily covered filing taxes

[@jackieking1522]

My brother in law lived at the base of a "ben" in Scotland. I asked him, has he ever been to the top. "Never lost any sheep up there."

[@braedengibbs8539]

What you hear walking around in any medieval game “he’s nofin to me if he ain’t a customer of mine” (hammer proceeds to smack an anvil)

[@jin_cotl]

Real

[@DJ-mp1zz]

The barkeeper NPC: "I need nuffin in life but a strong swig o' Dwarven ale"

[@metalsludge8205]

they're masterworks all, you can't go wrong

[@tcog9300]

Why are you striking an anvil?

[@BrB0424]

Fable II

[@kamikaze4172]

I'm not in business at all, but I will certainly use that "no customer of mine" line when I want to avoid certain conversations

[@jigglypuff_foryoutube1700]

Like what kind? :)

[@kamikaze4172]

@@jigglypuff_foryoutube1700 Politics and random drama more than likely

[@jigglypuff_foryoutube1700]

@@kamikaze4172 yeah I totally get that, sometimes you just don’t want to be sucked into drama

[@pickyourswitchoriginal]

Works unironically anymore with OF.

[@Br4ntburz]

Sounds like everybody was fed up with journalists even back then.

[@jamesa6693]

I think the last one in particular has stood the test of time.

[@jacobjonesofmagna]

"God made the Heaven and Earth - I never heard of him making the Sea" Good God, Oblivion dialogue was realistic as fuck all this time.

[@FumblsTheSniper]

I gotta remember this one

[@ErikratKhandnalie]

Funnily enough, in The Elder Scrolls, the seas weren't made by any sort of deity or deific being. The world was created by Lorkhan and the Aedra, using some of the other Ettada. (Lorkhan, a god, tricked some other gods into helping him create the world, and they used some parts of other gods to do it.) But the seas in TES are actually sort of a metaphysical waste product, made up of the memory of all the previous incarnations of the world.

[@ErikratKhandnalie]

@@cannaroe1213 I explicitly stated that this was from Elder Scrolls. Jfc, get your shit together.

[@Twiztid_Jupiter]

​@@ErikratKhandnaliethey deleted but I got to know, did someone think you meant irl? 😂😂😂😂

[@ErikratKhandnalie]

@@Twiztid_Jupiter They thought Lord of Rings lol

[@miguelperez9906]

you know that geography one really hasn’t changed much.

[@hy_9_11]

This is about the UK

[@billder2655]

i’m ngl we’re good at geography, especially european geography - got football/fifa to thank for that 😂

[@LAHFaust]

​@@hy_9_11if you think geographic knowledge is better in the UK than the US, you're sorely mistaken. The only places a Briton can point at on a map are Britain, France, and Majorca.

[@LAHFaust]

@@Webi your average Brit can barely speak English, mate.

[@swecreations]

That's only true for the US

[@thenarvyartgallery]

Ud be surprised how many people would still answer questions like this

[@goblintdl4692]

God they sound so happy

[@shanytopper2422]

Its kinda like those talkshows where they show how uneducated people are by asking randoms people on the street questions and then showing only the funniest answers

[@Kihidokid]

Can you point to Iran please? *Points at Canada*

[@davedahowell8694]

My thoughts exactly. You could probably ask the same questions

[@dylansylvester4719]

Thats a type of bad science called cherry picking!

[@johnassal5838]

neither actually accounts for those merely taking the piss out of the one asking

[@tegxi]

yes, but this isn't stuff people can reasonably not know in the modern age. These people lived lives where this stuff wasn't particularly relevant, and without any education, they simply never learned it. They weren't stupid but even if you could make the people of london sound incredibly ignorant by cherry picking examples today, nobody is going to be as ignorant as these people were.

[@Hixaren2]

You can still find people like this, they're everywhere

[@_Just_Another_Guy]

Especially during election season. Or global crises such as a pandemic. Uneducated people are unfortunately really susceptible to propaganda.

[@saldol9862]

Yep. A buddy of mine was deployed to Poland and asked me what language Polish people spoke On another matter, an NCO asked what was the language on the signs when we were in Ireland. It did not occur to them that Ireland has its own language, albeit a language that neither history nor Britain has been kind to

[@Queen_Nyxie]

@@saldol9862 In high school, I had a friend ask me whether Cornish hen was pig or cow. The entire classroom went silent.

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

Back in highschool, half the class didn't even know how much continents there were. Or how rice was grown. Its sad but they are still the minority whereas in the past its the majority

[@SymmetricalDocking]

@@neurofiedyamato8763 You are completely backwards on how the people of the past were.

[@greenman8]

I graduated HS in '88, in Pennsylvania. When I work with young adults here in California (right out of HS, through about 25), I am amazed how they don't know States on the East Coast or what the difference between the Mid Atlantic States vs New England, or where my Home State of Pennsylvania is. I might as well tell most of them that I am from Connecticut.

[@AM-jj3rj]

If I remember right, the lack of education contributed to the fall of the bronze age. Specific families and locations specialized in their craft. Which was taught and handed down in person. Not recorded in writing. So when the area was devastated. Their craft died along with them. This wasn't the sole factor. But, had the knowledge and skills been recorded in writing. Had others been able to read and access those books. Many their of their trades wouldn't have been lost to history. I understand the collapse was do to how society was set up at the time. One location specialized in acquiring raw material. While another country specialized in crafting with those materials. All the countries utilizing the goods. Then, in a perfect storm of unfortunate timing, key locations were wipe out do to natural disasters and other things. Causing the entire system to crumble. As they were all dependent on each other.

[@davidmac2784]

There’s alot of people who have currently gone through the 12 years of compulsory education that would still answer those questions exactly the same as before.

[@thegreenteahouse5253]

Yes!!! Literally 😂

[@Elucidus4]

Or worse

[@coolfiretire12]

me

[@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010]

The difference is that there is alot less

[@AmyAnnLand]

This feels so ironic, but I have to: * a lot Sorry, not sorry.

[@freejedisentinel2878]

"Pope is no customer of mine." I'm gonna start using that one.

[@HufflepuffBaseball42313]

Every time you get asked who you’re gonna vote for (Candidate) is no customer of mine

[@freejedisentinel2878]

@@HufflepuffBaseball42313 Oh that's good!

[@zackcash4941]

Based af

[@snakebitmcgee6532]

@@HufflepuffBaseball42313 go vote for joe Biden

[@HufflepuffBaseball42313]

@@snakebitmcgee6532 he’s no customer of mine

[@InuInugami]

What grabs my attention is that I honestly still don't know the answer to most of these and a lot of them that I do know I don't think I learned in school

[@reynaldoflores4522]

" How far away are the stars "? " Dunno. About a mile or two, I reckon. "

[@boyznthewoodz770]

“And I don’t in particular care” killed me

[@harmonlanager2670]

@@BouncyStickmanOuija keyboard

[@randomperson5454]

Bro this comment went from 666 to 675 and I watched it happen bro

[@randomperson5454]

I was gonna comment about it being 666 likes but I refreshed and it turned into 675 bro

[@randomperson5454]

Deadass in seconds bro

[@kardz1848]

Thats true in many ways

[@MediocreAverage]

We HAVE to get education right - it's our chance to fix so many issues

[@impartialthrone2097]

A shame that people in positions of power have motivations to mess with it.

[@purplepedantry]

​@@impartialthrone2097 Then again, they have reason to mess with anything good.

[@OGBennyGoat]

“The paradox of education is precisely this--that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated” (Baldwin, 1963)

[@jimmiller5600]

Look at the US today. Or Brexit. Less educated people make lousy citizens for a democracy.

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

It also can ruin everything when done for that purpose

[@tileux]

My grandmother was one of the canal boat people, based in London (specifically, Brentford, where the old canal docks were). They only had schooling at waypoints along the canals and the families had to pay for it. So my grandmother was leading the canal boat horses (people forget those boats were largely horse drawn) from pretty much as soon as she could walk. My nan married a man from another canal boat family and left the canals just before ww2 but she was illiterate her whole life.

[@laneweever2620]

Compulsory base-line education is a good thing. How it's done in the public school system has proven a disaster.

[@doodles4funo569]

Not necessarily the public school system dose better than private schools is some instances and there is the fact that public schooling is more trustworthy than sticking your child in some catholic school. It’s mainly the way public schools are so punlisised that they get a bad rap despite improvements being made. As well as the fact that private schools are run by individuals with their own agenda and public schools are run by mostly parents and a bord of multiple people. I mean if you go back 50 years the public school system has improved a lot. With all this public schools may not be perfect but to many financially or otherwise is the best possible choice. So public schooling isn’t completely a disaster it just with many other things needs improvements.

[@johnchandler1687]

​​@@doodles4funo569I went to public schools over 50 years ago. You are very misinformed if you think they are better now. Saw an interviewer asking basic history questions of students as they were coming off the stage from receiving their teaching degree. Many hadn't a clue about stuff I could've answered by 5th grade. Check your own punctuation and spelling 1st before you make that claim.😅

[@TheSuperbCrow]

@@doodles4funo569Catholic schools are far superior.

[@skzip888]

The Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

[@procow2274]

so your saying i can get super powers? 🤔

[@InventorZahran]

There is a small telephone-shaped thing inside every chromosome. I forgot its proper name because I always labeled it "chromophone" in my notebook sketches.

[@stumbling]

"The mitochondria is no customer of mine... He's barred."

[@findingbeautyinthepain8965]

@@stumbling As someone with a Mitochondrial disease, I’ve never felt so seen. 😂

[@kinositajona]

You joke, but when the mitochondria revolt and start making people in a New York City opera house start instantly combusting into flames and manifest themselves in a woman turned monster and you have to take it down... It's the nerdy guy who tells you "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell....... and they're revolting" is the guy that ends up saving the day in the end so... I'm glad you know that. Never die. We might need you some day.

[@juliz2500]

It would be really interesting to hear what they DID know that most of us don't learn today. Many people would have known a lot about gardening and farming, about darning and knitting and repairing things in the house, about building and crafting and caring for the elderly....

[@leavoda3791]

Yes, and it is a crime we don't teach everyday skills in schools too. However, without the overall knowledge of the world being tought, people stop asking questions and get stuck in their ways, without the incent or possibility to grow and evolve.

[@Robynhoodlum]

Kinda like Sherlock Holmes. He might not know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but he can analyze a footprint because that knowledge is actually practical.

[@justforplaylists]

I'm just guessing, but these are London poor, they might not have known much about stuff like gardening. I guess they would have known about their own jobs. They would have known stuff like how to navigate their own social world as much as we do. I assume they also knew songs and stories.

[@vioveo7440]

​@@justforplaylistsMight depend on where they lived in London. A lot of houses in London have surprisingly good sized backyards, so they might have at least known gardening.

[@vioveo7440]

​@@leavoda3791 I feel like public education really started to go down hill once we stopped requiring things like home ec and auto shop.

[@msnicotiana]

"It's nothing to me when he's no customer of mine" raw and real

[@slevemcdichael101]

So many of these are going to be used as npc lines in my next d&d campaign

[@carter7517]

This reminds me of that fantastic scene in Princess Mononoke where Lady Eboshi demonstrates that the emperor’s will doesn’t matter out where they are because nobody knows who that is

[@curtishammer748]

"That's nice, who's he?" "Is he supposed to be important?"

[@The_Custos]

Well I didn't vote for the imperial dynasty, descended from the Gods.

[@marypalmer00]

didn't expect a Mononoke reference here in the comments

[@Manas-co8wl]

@@marypalmer00 Yeah.. least where you’d expect huh. Even more surprising that it checks out and is relevant

[@rashidbelike9430]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@toastedtoad2441]

We know now its ridiculous, but that first dude at least had a decent thought process when it came to the sun lol

[@mastermarkus5307]

Yeah, without more investigation, logically there are two options: it's really big or it's really close.

[@Tru_G.R.I.T]

Better critical thinking skills than my employees

[@jeffbenton6183]

Excellent point. Though it does show the state of education concerning known facts at the time. All scholarship going back at least 3000 years knew that the Sun was *much* further than the Moon. The exact distance had even been calculated during classical or late antiquity.

[@WingsxFreedom]

​@@Tru_G.R.I.Tbetter critical thinking skills than our US president

[@simplekid4328]

Bro was smoking a joint and just went "how far you think that thing is" and accidentally became a genius

[@danielkrcmar5395]

Even with compulsory education there's plenty of people who would still give quotes like this.

[@edelweiss45]

There are a lot of people who will still answer like that

[@palonoctisursa]

There seems to be this underlying feeling of ‘if it doesn’t effect me or my business then I don’t care’

[@scorchercast8366]

No I don’t know where Germany is. If they get back on there shit I’ll look them up on a map for round 3. Until then I don’t care

[@M_SC]

They didn’t have time to care.

[@ScarletStarManor]

a better way to live, honestly.

[@ProbablyOnLSD6669]

You’ll find this similar flavor of “fuck you I got mine” in most of the US these days.

[@Zamorack13]

I feel like its unfair to judge common folk older then Arthur Morgan on shit like this. Like obviously educated people knew better but most people werent educated which i guess is the point, but still people in 1850 knew all the was wrong just not most people

[@shinobiighost6946]

These are all my responses when someone throws celebrity names my way.

[@stumbling]

I thought the Kardashians were from Star Trek

[@shinobiighost6946]

@@stumbling you're completely correct

[@eliasvonbrille]

​@@stumbling Good for you. Good for you...

[@dallaskoivu502]

The Kardashians are indeed, scaly lizard, like humanoid, creatures from far far away in deep space strange unpredictable, nasty creatures who don’t like humans

[@chipsneak1348]

“Do you like Chris Hemsworth?” “He must be closer than the moon.”

[@nickcara97]

That last one is actually kind of based, tbh.

[@robertlogan5354]

this video presented a great opportunity to show of your hat collection!

[@lionessoftor4139]

While they don't know this I bet there was one singular topic (most likely their job) that they could tell you more than you'd ever want to know.

[@kyetes.866]

Yeah, they would have had loads of skill & knowledge in things that have been completely lost to us due to technological advances.

[@ryanchatterjee]

It's sad we all know like 40% of the solar system but can't spin thread out of cotton or cobble our own shoes. Something to be said for the loss of artisan crafts

[@brigidtheirish]

@hishenmathurin2844 To get ones that fit? I've been tempted to try since *nothing fits comfortably.*

[@ChronoBaw]

​@@hungrycrab3297yeah but... Why expand? That cart is all one person can manage and it feeds you alright, what you need more for?

[@woodlefoof2]

@@_TheLoneWandererwhat makes you say that? You got hands, and you’ve got eyes. Everything else is just a tool and a learning curve.

[@uku4171]

"must be more than a hundred years ago" I mean, yeah

[@greenLimeila]

Technically correct

[@ThatNoobKing]

@@greenLimeila the best kind of correct

[@Hollyberrystreats]

They're not wrong!

[@jericson1109]

Imagine how focused on only their immediate situation they must have been. They must have been incredibly good at the few things they had information about and it was their business to do.

[@passionproject568]

The last guy was real for that answer.

[@lashier13]

A lot of those have "Won't change the way mustard tastes" energy and I'm here for it.

[@censusgary]

Many of these people knew what they needed to know for their lives. They didn’t have time for theoretical or abstract questions.

[@001variation]

@@censusgary Failure to see the bigger picture is just living an unexamined life.

[@MrGksarathy]

​@@001variationDid they have the time or energy for one? No, amd it's not their fault.

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

​@@001variationSurely an examined scholar like yourself has read the Great Gatsby? “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

[@SBF90210]

I loved that community episode

[@capbubbles6982]

To be fair, I know people who’d respond in the same way now

[@IRUKANJI]

Street interviews with random folk never changes.

[@blocksource4192]

@@IRUKANJIso how do we talk about the self educated folk at the time versus our people. The average man is still as dumb as he was back then.

[@Wolfman-rd1pv]

This honestly sounds like those videos of people interviewing random people on the streets of New York

[@willrichardson5931]

You walk round now and the answers are no better 😂

[@julia061174]

I remember reading somewhere. In 1900 (or something) teacher (or researcher) asked students what is common about a fox and a rabbit. Pretty much all students said "one is chasing another". Then in 2000 (or something) another teacher asked his students same question. Most students answered "they both are mammals"

[@stevenc2149]

and in 2020 "both were stars of zootopia"

[@MountainsAreCool]

How do both have "one is chasing another" what does the rabbit chase?

[@KevinMah-ol5on]

​@@MountainsAreCoolthe rabbit was trying to sell an extended warranty

[@smartsport]

I would’ve said they both have feet

[@iamdigory]

​@@MountainsAreCoolno, the kids meant "they are both involved in the same chase"

[@aiden3627]

I love the indifferent ones like “why tf would I care who Jesus/the pope/Christianity is he’s not paying me”

[@Izzy-cp8yt]

Honestly, I can't blame them. They had bigger problems than religion at the time. Heck, I have bigger problems than following a religion myself. It's not for everyone, and so long as they're happy with it, it really makes no difference either way.

[@theducknamednewepicla9507]

Damn

[@liammeech3702]

The one about Jesus is abit weird consodering it was a social sin to not atten church... perhaps that particular person was Catholic? (Mass held in Latin)

[@Lightice1]

@@liammeech3702 The urban poor didn't have anyone forcing them to attend services and the occasional church charities could only reach a fraction of them.

[@jackalope2302]

​@@liammeech3702These were Victorian factory workers and shopkeepers. These poor SOBs worked 12 to 14 hour days for six days a week since they were eight! They were probably more ignorant and less religious than an average Medieval peasant.

[@nothingsallowed]

You'd get these same answers talking to my stepdaughter's friends. Lol

[@jesuscoutofandino6280]

Not the UK, and not that long ago... I was absolutely amazed when I found out my dad was a believer in spontaneous generation, but considering he was raised in rural post-Civil War Spain and had a very rudimentary education, the real weird thing would be for him to know that was disproven for centuries. He wasnt stupid, he was just raised in a time and place where the most important thing was for him to start working ASAP.

[@juanvaldivia8001]

"Nothing to me when he's no customer of mine" that's going to my list of catchphrases

[@rayesafan9628]

Would be great for an NPC

[@TheKlink]

there were people who knew clearly what their circle of concern was.

[@sergiom3988]

The pope? He is nothing to me if he's no customer of mine😂

[@richardarriaga6271]

I thought every Brit was supposed to be taught the Pope was a servant of Satan in those days.

[@cybr69lol]

and for people now it isn't?

[@innnn663]

@@cybr69lolimo yeah. For people now, almost everyone is trying to find anything to get triggered about or have some sort of emotional outburst about. A lot more emotional sensitivity to things that naturally aren't even our own business. We're nosy and like lots of drama

[@mohammadshah417]

This

[@eleanorsvenson2958]

It’s amazing that on top of education, misinformation has made people just as ignorant as one who never stepped foot in school.

[@JHimminy]

Almost like school is just babysitting for 13yrs (US)

[@void-creature]

The person who said the thing about heaven and earth was spot on, for the sea is much more ancient you see, the domain of the great old ones

[@te-m4329]

Yes