Maybe it was because the internet didn’t exist at the time but I have a distinct memory of my dad holding up a book and reading out the names of countries to me while I had to guess the names of their capital cities. We even had tests about it at school.

When I would repeatedly get the same three wrong, my dad would helpfully say things like: “I hope they never ask you to a game show.” Clearly, this doesn’t seem to have happened in several Maltese households, given the videos making the rounds this week.

In case you have more charitable social media feeds than I do, there are currently two videos that can be found easily online – both from different game shows. In one, a lady is shown a picture of the Arc de Triomphe and decides that it is in fact “Bieb il-Bombi” and, in the other, two ladies identify Vittoriosa as the spot where the two atom bombs were dropped in World War II.

Someone in their late teens about to go to university asked me if Hitler existed

To make myself perfectly clear, I’m not writing about these incidents to in any way make fun of the contestants but, rather, to shine a light on the fact that, even though we have far better tools at our disposable than we did 30 years ago, our general knowledge levels are no longer so general and are continuing to plummet at alarming rates.

Just last week, someone in their late teens about to go to university asked me if Hitler existed. I literally thought they were joking; turns out the joke was on me. I was going to have an aneurysm.

At least 13 years of education and he had never been given a decent explanation about one of the most significant players in 20th-century history. How is this okay? What happened to concepts like those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it?

Learning and knowing things gives us length and breadth in our thoughts and arguments and allows us to make connections and think for ourselves. It also helps us to understand events and patterns better. Without knowledge, we are empty vessels dangerously blowing wherever the wind (and those who can see things) takes us.

When we don’t fill our minds with informed thoughts and ideas, they become ripe to be filled with less favourable things. How is this not terrifying? Can the world really afford generations of people that couldn’t place their country on a map and can’t understand why it’s important they know how to?

As for those taking part in game shows, perhaps if backlash is to be avoided, participants can be better filtered before going on television. It is the responsibility of the production team to interview contestants and see if they’re the right fit for the show.

I’ve said this often enough in the past but just because you think you can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can. Perhaps this is yet another byproduct of generations of children getting participation trophies for everything they take part in without them actually having to apply themselves.

The people running our academic system need to get better at reading the signs of the times rather than just reacting when it’s already too late.

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.