Parent Talk / August 2006

Over There, Maybe

Despite the United States’ increasing involvement in world affairs, American children remain particularly uninformed about the geography and cultures of other countries. Many young adults today lack basic geographic knowledge that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. Such geographic illiteracy impacts the American economic well-being, relation- ships with other nations and the environment, and isolates the country from the world, according to the staff of National Geographic.

About 11 percent of young US citizens couldn’t even locate the U.S. on a map. The Pacific Ocean's location was a mys- tery to 29 percent. About 58 percent did not find Japan and for 65 percent, France was nowhere. Almost 70 percent could not point out America’s greatest ally, the United Kingdom. A survey found that many children considered geography their least favorite subject out of six school subjects.

Geographic illiteracy is a problem that only can be tackled by making the subject more interesting to students. Field trips and developing hands-on activities related to the world’s cultures, regions, people and environ- ment are the first steps in introducing children to the rest of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

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