Miss Garbled Teen USA

I’ve heard of having prepared or scripted answers to anticipated questions and that makes sense. But you don’t try to squish them all together to form an answer to an unrelated question. It just makes one sound…well… like a blonde teenager. Forgive me for using a stereotype but this one fits.

Okay, background on this one. At the Miss Teen USA contest one contestant was asked a fairly simple question.

“Recent polls have shown that a fifth of Americans cannot locate the USA on a
map. Why do you think this is?”

There are a number of potential answers to demonstrate wisdom and impress the judges. Here are but a few to choose from:

• We Americans have become too preoccupied with our personal lives an interests and need to remember we are part of a greater community. Being a part of the greater community would require solid geographic skills.
• Unfortunately, our public school system has had the wrong focus for a while. Instead on figuring out how children feel about or adding significant unproven information to the curriculum, we should focus on core skills such as geography.
• We need to embrace a thirst for factual knowledge in this nation as opposed to watching sports and other entertainment venues.
• We need to break out of the stereotypical arrogant and ignorant American role and strive to learn about the world we are in with humility.

But what did Lauren Caitlin Upton of South Carolina say? I can’t bring myself to type it. Just watch.

She could have just as easily said she didn’t know the answer as she can’t keep track of the bleach for her hair.

Physical attributes are one thing. But entrants should be screened to make certain the synapses are firing. These events are going to hit the Internet for the whole world to see. Americans have a bad reputation already, publicizing a teenager’s moment of babbling doesn’t help even if it was just a bad moment. Or do we call this a Britney moment?