Belgium's future teachers show worrying gaps in general knowledge

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/23/belgium-teachers-gaps-general-knowledge

A large number of Belgium's future secondary school teachers struggle with basic concepts of geography, politics and history, a study has revealed.

Among final-year teaching students involved in the study, one in three could not identify the United States on a map and almost half did not know where the Pacific Ocean was.

Shown a picture of Mao Zedong, two in three could not recognise the Chinese communist leader, with the most common response being that it was the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.