American university students struggle to answer basic geography questions as one claims the capital of France is Rome and another says Iraq is in Scandinavia
A group of American students have caused a firestorm on TikTok after revealing their limited knowledge about Europe.
Mathilda Andre, from Sweden, an exchange student at the University of Michigan, asked her new classmates some simple questions about geography.
She asked her American colleagues general knowledge questions, such as: “What is the capital of Germany?”
In an unexpected twist, the students were unable to answer the questions, with one claiming that the capital of Germany is France and the other claiming that Iraq is a Scandinavian country.
The video, which has been viewed more than three million times, has caused astonishment TikTokand someone asked, “Is geography illegal in American schools?”
Mathilda Andre has caused a firestorm online after asking her colleagues (pictured) at Michigan University basic questions about European geography
Mathilda took to TikTok and asked her peer, “What language do they speak in Europe?” The question was misleading from the start, but the interviewee didn’t notice and answered: ‘European’.
Finally realizing the correct answer, she added, “Wait no, a bunch of different languages.”
Then Mathilda asked another friend: ‘What is the capital of Germany? She replied confidently, “France.”
Another interrupted and tried to answer the question: “Hamburg,” she said. Then she asked herself questions and added, “Is that right?”
Mathilda then asked another student, “What language do they speak in Russia?” She looked confused and replied, “I know this,” as she thought about her answer.
She finally said, “Russian.” When Mathilda confirmed her answer was correct, she replied, “Wait, really?”
Mathilda moved to another location and asked a student, “What is the capital of France?” Another quickly intervened and said, “Why should we know that?”
The person who asked Mathilda the question looked surprised before answering, saying, “Is it Rome?”
Mathilda asked her colleagues some simple questions, including: ‘What is the capital of Sweden?’
For the last question, Mathilda asked a friend: ‘What is the capital of Norway?’ She replied: ‘Sweden’.
Confused by her answer, Mathilda asked her another question to assess her knowledge: “Name some Scandinavian countries,” she said.
Her friend replied, “Isn’t Scandinavia a country?” When Mathilda said no, her friend replied, “Iraq.”
The video quickly sparked outrage on TikTok, with viewers shocked by the lack of knowledge.
One said: ‘Real question: If this is the level of education, how do they get into super prestigious universities like Harvard?’
A second added: ‘As a millennial these facts are burned into my mind. The way we learned in school is very different from how this generation learns now. It’s worrying.’
A third wrote: ‘Now I feel like I would go to Harvard. A fourth wondered: ‘Is geography banned in the US?’
Viewers took to the comments section to express their thoughts on the video, and many were left shocked
It comes after an American TikToker shared everything she loved about Europe during her trip to France, Spain and Italy.
She previously faced backlash for her first video, where she trashed all the things she didn’t like.
@thestrawberryannie’s TikTok has been seen by more than 216,000 people – her previous one, in which she complained about not enough sauces and no free water, was viewed by 4.8 million people.
She explained, “After I posted that video about the things I didn’t like about Europe, so many people said, ‘I’m never going to travel again,’ so I made a list of all the things I liked about Europe. ‘
The first thing that received praise from the American was the European club scene.
She said: ‘Firstly the clubs were clashing, the only thing that was weird was there were a lot of 16 year olds in there smoking cigarettes and I’m like 24 so I was like ‘what are you doing here?’ but otherwise the music was great.’
“They played a lot of American hits and a lot of Spanish hits too, which I think was great.”
She also liked that there was plenty of public transport, explaining: ‘Public transport is very good for the environment.
‘If you were just driving, it would take two to three times as long, but I like that it’s quite affordable and good for the environment.’
One commenter advised ‘you’re actually faster on public transport’.
The TikToker’s third thing she liked was that the servers at restaurants “leave you alone.”
She said, “I love that, they don’t keep asking you, ‘Are you okay?’ do you need something?’ which I like because I ask everything when they first come to the table and I never need them again because I’m a simple girl.’