<p>no talent in this pagent, and i do think they were given rote answers to use and just couldn’t move beyond that</p>
<p>and I would bet you that because we don’t teach “thinking” enough and analyzation, that is what we get</p>
<p>I only saw it once–once was enough–but she had that artificial pageant smile plastered across her face and her eyes were glazed like someone in an advanced state of shock. … I agree, she was very pretty, in a Brittany Spears kind of way.</p>
<p>In general the Miss USA system is considered to be a lot more about physicality than even the Miss America system. (And before they stopped publishing the Miss America contestants’ statistics, there was a statistician who had predicted the winner from body measurements alone, mainly cup size, for decades running.)</p>
<p>Last year I remember looking at the pictures and thinking that in all of the Trump pageants (Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe) when it came down to the finalists, the woman with the lowest cut dress won.</p>
<p>I live in South Carolina - just for fun today I asked my 9year old who just started 3rd grade (I will add has dyslexia and dysgraphia and spends half of each day getting reading/writing remediation) this question - did you know that alot of children and teenages can’t find the Unted States on a map? She said “duh, don’t you remember that time you let me stay up late and we saw all of those dumb people on Jay Leno?” I could not stop laughing. I pulled up a map on the internet and was relieved that she could find the US and knew generally where SC was and where some other big states - TX, CA, FL etc were! I am embarrassed - no matter how nervous she was - that Miss Teen SC could not answer that question!</p>
<p>I can’t imagine how embarrassing that must be. But I don’t think anyone outside of SC judges SC by what happened at the pageant. Well, not anyone whose opinion matters. I’m sure you have as many ignorant, regionalist bigots to contend with as I do.</p>
<p>Ditto for Kentucky!</p>
<p>She is the living breathing embodiment of the “what’s missing in the educational system.” She never learned to read a map either.</p>
<p>Didn’t Dan Quayle think that they spoke Latin in Latin America?
Potatoe?
Tomatoe?
I think she has a good shot at being a future Vice President.</p>
<p>Bless her heart. </p>
<p>Those of you who live in the south know what I’m really saying. ;)</p>
<p>I think all 5 of the finalists, except Colorado, gave poor answers to their questions.</p>
<p>Yes, SplashMom!</p>
<p>I kind of give Quayle a pass on spelling. But getting off a plane in Latin America, making the American gesture for “OK” with both hands (it stands for something extremely offensive and body-partish)…that was incredibly stupid, especially for someone with that much access to opportunities to inform himself about his mission. It’s one thing not to have an opportunity to get information; it’s another to chose to be ignorant.</p>
<p>I agree conyat about regional bigots- just another one of those things that people bring up! BTW, I grew up in Mississippi and have been to Slidell many a times! My dad’s family is from LA. </p>
<p>So I appreciate that you know about “regionalist bigots” as do I! When I was applying to college, sent an application to UNC Chapel Hill. It was my dream school. In those days, OOS applications were like a book and I spent so long on the new electric typewriter perfecting my application. Also in those days UNC-Chapel Hill called OOS applicants for interviews. I will never forget the admissions guy who thought he was so funny when he said to me “Oh, we were so surprised that someone from Mississippi could read and write, we almost accepted your application when it came in. But, we needed to make sure you really existed.” ha ha ha. I didn’t laugh and just sat there dumbfounded that someone was so rude (yes, I am from the Delta, where manners really count!) Needless to say, I did not go to school there!</p>
<p>Oh and here is another funny story - I was on a plane once going from Birmingham Alabama, a fairly small plane. A group of 6 Turkish men got on the plane and this woman sitting next to me said “I thank they’re foreign” I said yep probably so. As we are waiting to take off they are all reading the newpaper that is written in their sort of latin letters - modern Turkish I guess it would be - and they were talking some and we could hear them and see their newspapers clearly. This woman in the most Southern accent turned around and said, “I just have to ask, are y’all speaking Spanish?” I “liketa” died. They all just stared at her and giggled a bit - along with me. I never did tell her they weren’t Spanish!</p>
<p>The more I think about it, I think what happened here is a variation of what others have described as “pat answers.” I think she was probably given the question <em>in advance</em> and allowed to formulate an answer. Then during the actual contest, due to some mix-up, they read her the wrong question. She was all set to answer some question about South African education and they threw her a curve ball. It’s the only reasonable explanation for an answer that jumbled and confused.</p>
<p>BAfromBC - I agree with your assessment. I have done so much reading about education since my daughter was diagnosed with learning difficulties. I was surprised that most of the people teachers, administrators, etc were much more worried about her self esteem and confidence than her actually learning some useful skills (reading!!!). They didn’t want to “upset her” or “make her feel inadequate”. I have had to push and push to get the school to hold her to the same standards as every other student. It is extremely frustrating to see some of the work that she came home with last year - lots of “feel good” grades on work that was blatantly wrong.</p>
<p>it makes sense…but she started off talking about how some kids don’t have maps. I thought it was amusing when she kept using “such as” and “the Iraq”…she was talking about how education in the US should help “the Iraq” and “South Africa” to build up our future.</p>
<p>seems they picked a “pure” girl who lectures on Abstinance Until Marriage as the winner…didn’t want to take any chances I guess</p>
<p>My late aunt would probably agree with her about the lack of maps. She was a kindergarten teacher so long ago that she was required to make two home visits a year to each student. She used to come home fuming, “They want little Johnny to grow up to be president, and there’s not a book in the house!”</p>
<p>I grew up around maps constantly. Our dinner table was 8 by 4, and Dad had a huge map of the US under thick plastic as our tablecloth. Then we had road maps for trips, nautical maps for going fishing, with kids being expected to give directions off of them. To this day, I have to turn maps the way I’m going to make sense of them and I can get lost in the building where I work. Oddly enough, it’s gotten better with middle age rather than worse, but I will never be one of those people who can sit inside a building with no windows and point west or to a certain street.</p>
<p>is there a minimum hair length for pagents, unlike the real world, nobody had shoulder length hair, it was all loonnngggg</p>
<p>SplashMom, still snickering over your “bless her heart”!</p>
<p>“To this day, I have to turn maps the way I’m going to make sense of them and I can get lost in the building where I work. Oddly enough, it’s gotten better with middle age rather than worse, but I will never be one of those people who can sit inside a building with no windows and point west or to a certain street.”</p>
<p>That’s very funny. I grew up around maps (dad was a naval officer) and love them as art, but I have no internal sense of direction. I can read maps well and my kids DO know where the US is on a map, but I work in one of those Manhattan buildings that takes up an entire city block and I frequently get lost. I have to look out the window and find the direction of the ferry and Fifth Avenue in order to get my bearings. I’ve always thought I was the only person like that!</p>