Federation govt and lack of members cultural exchanges

[nyc12182]

One thing I found fascinating was the how so many member world knew so little about each other.

Sure from a technical " it a show" standpoint Rodenberry own exploration of the star trek universe caused him to change and evolve his idea's.

One example would be trill went from a fairly unknown species to a Federation member, only way to make sense of it is to realize ideas changed to fit the show.

But even with ds9 and enterprise exploring the idea of a greater integrated Federation still find it odd how vulcans humans Andorrans and tellarites know so little about each. Honestly get the sense there is no vulcan history in Federation schools besides on Vulcan itself.

Ever since enterprise and the season 8 novels I felt the Federation was a loose parliamentary system with the president as a PM and member worlds given powers over there own sovereignty much like the States in the USA before the civil war.

Even than it makes sense for a kid in Ny school to learn about new jersey. So why hasn't federation members taught there kids about there beloved fellow members? Vulcan should in ds9 only be like 10 mins from earth at warp. No class trips?

Why I hope any future shows explore federation govt in the tng years instead of the new ranterverse.

 

[Finn]

1. There is no evidence that Trill is a Federation member

2. Enterprise doesnt count because it predates the Federations when Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites were just interstellar neighbors.

There is little evidence that supports your claim other than McCoy not being able to treat Spock and Sarek effectively (loads of bs, BTW)

There is nothing in TNG, DS9 and Voyager to suggest Human doctors knew little about Vulcan or Andorian biology.

 

[T'Girl]

Honestly get the sense there is no vulcan history in Federation schools besides on Vulcan itself.

Look at it this way, I recieved no lessons on America's history when I was in school in Brazil, just the occasional mention. I recieved no lessons on Brazilian history in American High School, again only a few mentions. There was a lot of international history and current events in Elementary Schools (Philippines, Japan and UK), plus a emphasise on the history of whatever country my family was in at the time.

Human children whose families were living on Vulcan would likely get Vulcan history and civics, in addition to Human subjects, but certainly not detail lesson on every last Federation member. Maybe when the Federation was younger and small in numbers, then teaching children about all the members history, in addition to their own, would have been possible.

How many Adults today can even name all the countries on Earth?

 

[davisn456]

Isn't it just a possibility that "planet hopping" isn't quite as common as Starfleet officers make it seem like? Sisko's father had never left Earth until he visited DS9 in "Far Beyond the Stars", and he obviously had access to transportation being on Earth. Humans naturally have the drive to explore, but other Federation worlds may not. There were several Federation member worlds that obviously had more integration into Starfleet ships (Vulcans, and Betazoids especially), but even among Vulcans, they weren't all necessarily that familiar with humans (outside of their education maybe). There are those that probably feel that space travel is somewhat unnecessary or have no desire to do it.

 

[Finn]

Harry Kim travelled to a colony as a kid

 

[T'Girl]

but even among Vulcans, they weren't all necessarily that familiar with humans

Even Spock confused the eugenics war and third world war once.

Federation schools ... So why hasn't federation members taught there kids about there beloved fellow members?

Was there even a single mention of any "Federation schools?"

There was the school for the crew's children (like Wesley) aboard the Enterprise Dee, which I imagine is similar to the US military's on base dependents schools, like I went to. Then there was the short lived school that Keiko O'Brien ran for the Bajorian children (and Jake and Nog) on DS9. And later we see Jake Sisko basically being "home schooled."

 

[nyc12182]

but even among Vulcans, they weren't all necessarily that familiar with humans

Even Spock confused the eugenics war and third world war once.

Federation schools ... So why hasn't federation members taught there kids about there beloved fellow members?

Was there even a single mention of any "Federation schools?"

There was the school for the crew's children (like Wesley) aboard the Enterprise Dee, which I imagine is similar to the US military's on base dependents schools, like I went to. Then there was the short lived school that Keiko O'Brien ran for the Bajorian children (and Jake and Nog) on DS9. And later we see Jake Sisko basically being "home schooled."

Taking what I am asking way to literally. All meant to express is my question. 200 plus years and federation members seem to know very little about each other. So why is this the case?

My original post I was trying to elaborate with I guess were more vague examples than I realized.

 

[MacLeod]

OK by TNG there are ~150+ members. To draw an anology there are ~200 countries on Earth. So when you were taught History at School did you learn anything about countries such as Uzbekistan, Khazaskstan, New Guinea, Madagasger, Chilie, Switzerland?

 

[Finn]

To the OP, could you cite evidence that shows the UFP members knowing so little about each other.

 

[T'Girl]

^ One of my favorite example of this would be Admiral Morrow in TSFS. During the course of TOS (which was only a few years before), Kirk and McCoy learn quite a bit about Vulcans through interactions with Spock. Mindmelds, Pon Farr, etc. And at the end of TWOK McCoy found out (the hard way) about Katras. But this information doesn't seem to be wide spread.

Admiral Morrow said to Kirk at one point "I've never understood Vulcan mysticism." Which would seem to be a indication that Vulcans and their ways aren't well know to someone, who as a Admiral, you would expect to be well traveled and reasonable cosmopolitan.

*******************

The title of the thread mentions "Federation Govt." This would more likely be a deficit in "Federation Society" instead.

 

[Finn]

^Im betting most Vulcans don't know about Katras based on what we saw in the 22nd century. Spock may know because of who Sarek was. Sarek was among Vulcan elders in ST09. I find the idea that McCoy didn't know about poh Farr and mind melds rubbish. He should have been very familiar with Vulcan medicine. I don't take TOS seriously since they didn't really flesh out the trekverse until the movies and TNG.

And the admiral's remark may be akin to me saying that I don't understand how anybody could root for the Yankees. It doesn't mean I know little about that baseball team.

 

[The Wormhole]

Was there even a single mention of any "Federation schools?"

Geordi said in First Contact that he attended Zephram Cochrane High School. This would presumably be on Earth or some other Federation world.

Or is the term "High School" too vague to be definitive? For all we know "Zephram Cochrane High School" is nothing more than a haven for juvenile delinquets, drug dealers/users and underage drinking.

Oh wait, that is a high school.

 

[T'Girl]

Was there even a single mention of any "Federation schools?"

Geordi said in First Contact that he attended Zephram Cochrane High School. This would presumably be on Earth or some other Federation world.

But would Zephram Cochrane High School be a Earth school, or a Federation school? Planets and cultures that obtain membership with the Federation are highly advanced, warp capable societies, they probably already have their own school system.

nothing more than a haven for juvenile delinquets, drug dealers/users and underage drinking

You and I went to very different schools.

 

[BillJ]

There must've been exchanges of some type:

TUCKER: That's something Mister Velik used to say. Tenth grade biology class. He was a Vulcan scientist (who came to teach us about life on other worlds. I'd never seen a Vulcan before, not up close. He scared the hell out of me.

 

[Finn]

^he prolly didn't tell 16 year olds about poh farr...

 

[indolover]

OK by TNG there are ~150+ members. To draw an anology there are ~200 countries on Earth. So when you were taught History at School did you learn anything about countries such as Uzbekistan, Khazaskstan, New Guinea, Madagasger, Chilie, Switzerland?

There is no real evidence that the Federation members are sovereign planets. The OP's analogy makes sense, if assuming the Federation is similar to an interstellar United States.

 

[T'Girl]

OK by TNG there are ~150+ members. To draw an anology there are ~200 countries on Earth. So when you were taught History at School did you learn anything about countries such as Uzbekistan, Khazaskstan, New Guinea, Madagasger, Chilie, Switzerland?

There is no real evidence that the Federation members are sovereign planets. The OP's analogy makes sense, if assuming the Federation is similar to an interstellar United States.

MacLeod posed question is valid, there are (as he points out) over a 150 members, with individual cultures and histories. it would be difficult to learn more than an brief overview of more than a few of them.

 

[Nerys Myk]

OK by TNG there are ~150+ members. To draw an anology there are ~200 countries on Earth. So when you were taught History at School did you learn anything about countries such as Uzbekistan, Khazaskstan, New Guinea, Madagasger, Chilie, Switzerland?

There is no real evidence that the Federation members are sovereign planets. The OP's analogy makes sense, if assuming the Federation is similar to an interstellar United States.

MacLeod posed question is valid, there are (as he points out) over a 150 members, with individual cultures and histories. it would be difficult to learn more than an brief overview of more than a few of them.

I know a bit about California and Texas history because I went to school there. Nebraska and Florida, not so much. US history, I also have a good overview of US history. I assume history in UFP schools have a similar focus. UFP history in broad strokes: Founding, important events and key people, but not much focus on the history of individual members, plus "local" history.

 

[MacLeod]

OK by TNG there are ~150+ members. To draw an anology there are ~200 countries on Earth. So when you were taught History at School did you learn anything about countries such as Uzbekistan, Khazaskstan, New Guinea, Madagasger, Chilie, Switzerland?

There is no real evidence that the Federation members are sovereign planets. The OP's analogy makes sense, if assuming the Federation is similar to an interstellar United States.

Well we have very little idea if the UFP is closer to an Interstellar US or an Interstellar EU.

We have very little idea of how even the Earth Government works, we can infer that around the end of ENT, Earth maybe has a Parlimentary style systems. And that's only from the title "Minister"

 

[T'Girl]

We have very little idea of how even the Earth Government works, we can infer that around the end of ENT, Earth maybe has a Parlimentary style systems.

But was the Earth government during ENT's first season (2151), the same as during VOY's last season (2378). 227 years apart.

236 years ago, America's government was located in London, and there was a King involved.