...but no way I can take a car engine apart and put it back together.
I can take one apart.
And all of that was taught in school. Every public school in the US.
Being taught =/= learning.
Learning =/= remembering.
Me? I can identify all the US states on a map (and list all of them, eventually, without one) and almost all the capitals. I can identify all but three of the South American countries, with those three having always been confused in my head, even before at least two of them changed their names - but I know which three they are and where they are on the map.
I can manage 90% of European countries and maybe half to two thirds of the African ones. I cannot do all of the former Soviet States, but most of the rest of Asia I can manage, as well.
I get in trouble with the islands, whether Caribbean, Indies, or Pacific.
OTOH, I have
been to all 50 states, 4 provinces of Canada, and two states of Mexico, plus to 13 European countries (at least) and a couple of them more than once. (3 of the European countries I was in no longer exist, but in the recombination and division, I have still been in the same number of countries.) I have also been to 4 or 5 Asian countries, depending on how you count two of them, one of
them twice. And I've been to Australia.
For what it's worth, I've been more than 10,000 feet high while still on the ground and more than 1,000 feet underground.
If the pandemic subsides enough for travel to be safe again, I expect to hit 2 or 3 more provinces.
So, I am not sure that I am a useful measuring stick for US citizenry.
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