A group of American students has caused a stir 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 several simple questions about geography.
He asked his fellow Americans general knowledge questions, such as: “What is the capital of Germany?”
In an unexpected twist, the students were unable to answer the questions: one claimed that the capital of Germany is France and another claimed that Iraq is a Scandinavian country.
The video, which has accumulated more than three million views, has caused surprise in Tik Tokand one asked, ‘Is geography illegal in American schools?’
Mathilda Andre has caused an online storm after asking her classmates (pictured) at the University of Michigan basic questions about European geography.
On TikTok, Mathilda asked her partner: “What language do they speak in Europe?” The question was misleading from the beginning, but the interviewee didn’t realize it and answered: “European.”
Finally he realized the correct answer and added, “Wait, no, there are a ton of different languages.”
Next, Mathilda asked another friend: ‘What is the capital of Germany? She answered confidently: “France.”
Another interrupted and tried to answer the question: “Hamburg,” she said. Then she questioned herself and added, ‘Is that so?’
Mathilda went on to ask another student, “What language is spoken in Russia?” Looking confused, she replied, “I know,” as she pondered her response.
Finally he said: “Russian.” When Mathilda confirmed that her answer was correct, she replied: ‘Wait, really?’
Mathilda changed location and asked a student: ‘What is the capital of France?’ Another quickly chimed in and said: ‘Why would we need to know that?’
The person Mathilda asked the question seemed perplexed before answering and saying, “Is it Rome?”
Mathilda asked her classmates several simple questions, including: “What is the capital of Sweden?”
In the last question, Mathilda asked a friend: “What is the capital of Norway?” She replied: “Sweden.”
Confused by his answer, Mathilda asked him another question to test his 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 awareness.
One said: ‘Genuine 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 brain. 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 asked: “Is geography banned in the United States?”
Viewers took to the comments section to express their opinions on the video and many were surprised.
It comes after an American TikToker shared all the things she loved about Europe on her trip to France, Spain and Italy.
He previously faced backlash for his first video, where he criticized all the things he didn’t like.
@thestrawberryannie’s TikTok has been viewed by over 216,000 people; the previous one, in which he complained that there were not enough sauces and that there was no free water, was viewed by 4.8 million.
She explained: “After I posted that video about the things I didn’t like about Europe, a lot of people were like, ‘I’ll never travel again,’ so I made a list of all the things I did like about Europe.”
The first thing that received praise from the American was the European club scene.
She said: “First the clubs were crashing, the only strange thing was there were a lot of 16 year olds smoking cigarettes and I was 24 so I thought ‘what are you doing here?’ But other than that, the music was amazing.”
“They played a lot of American hits and also a lot of Spanish hits; I love that.”
He also liked that there was a lot of public transportation, explaining that “public transportation is very good for the environment.”
“It takes two to three times as long if you just drive, but I like that it’s pretty affordable and good for the environment.”
One commenter warned: “You’re actually faster on public transportation.”
The third thing that the TikToker liked was that restaurant waiters ‘leave you alone’.
She said: ‘I love it, they don’t keep popping up and asking you ‘is everything okay?’ you need something?’ which I like because I order everything when they come to the table for the first time and I never need them again, because I’m a simple girl.’
