Poll: 1/3 of Youths Can't Find La. on Map

Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Despite the wall-to-wall coverage of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, nearly one-third of young Americans recently polled couldn't locate Louisiana on a map and nearly half were unable to identify Mississippi.


Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 fared even worse with foreign locations: six in 10 couldn't find
Iraq, according to a Roper poll conducted for
National Geographic.

"Geographic illiteracy impacts our economic well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from the world," National Geographic president John Fahey said in announcing a program to help remedy the problem. It's hoping to enlist businesses, nonprofit groups and educators in a bid to improve geographic literacy.

Planned is a five-year, multimedia campaign called My Wonderful World that will target children 8 to 17. The goal is to motivate parents and educators to expand geographic offerings in school, at home and in their communities.

They will have their task cut out for them, judging by the results of the survey of 510 people interviewed in December and January.

Among the findings:

• One-third of respondents couldn't pinpoint Louisiana on a map and 48 percent were unable to locate Mississippi.

• Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill.

• Two-thirds didn't know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.

• Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.

• While the outsourcing of jobs to India has been a major U.S. business story, 47 percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.

• While Israeli-Palestinian strife has been in the news for the entire lives of the respondents, 75 percent were unable to locate
Israel on a map of the Middle East.

• Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely spoken native language.

• Six in 10 did not know the border between North and
South Korea is the most heavily fortified in the world. Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the United States and Mexico.

Joining in the effort to improve geographic knowledge will be the 4-H, American Federation of Teachers, Asia Society, Association of American Geographers, National Basketball Association, National Council of La Raza, National PTA,
Smithsonian Institution and others.

"Geography exposes children and adults to diverse cultures, different ideas and the exchange of knowledge from around the world," said Anna Marie Weselak, president of the National PTA. "This campaign will help make sure our children get their geography — so they can become familiar with other cultures during their school years and move comfortably and confidently in a global economy as adults."
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Source


*stalks off in disgust*
 
yeah it's amazing how little americans know about the world around them.

i'm afraid to see the results of math and science testing.

tom friedman's latest book (the world is flat) talks a lot americans falling behind in education.

pretty sad.

butt hey, we don't need no learnin' when we's just waiting for the rapture.
 
Without knowing more, you can't draw conclusions. They might have put the outline of Mississippi on a map and asked 'What state is this?'

Now, if they had a map, circled Louisiana, circled NY, and circled Cali, one should be able to identify each.
 
2minkey said:
yeah it's amazing how little americans know about the world around them.

i'm afraid to see the results of math and science testing.

tom friedman's latest book (the world is flat) talks a lot americans falling behind in education.

pretty sad.

butt hey, we don't need no learnin' when we's just waiting for the rapture.
Click to expand...

And the correlating link between Christianity and geographic ignorance would be...

Until you can supply one, how's about keeping your theological preferences to yourself?
 
Altron said:
Without knowing more, you can't draw conclusions. They might have put the outline of Mississippi on a map and asked 'What state is this?'

Now, if they had a map, circled Louisiana, circled NY, and circled Cali, one should be able to identify each.
Click to expand...

I don't even live in that country, and in school, I could name the 50 states, and their capitals. Used to be that was standard elementary school learning, along with the multiplication table. Evidently, it's been replaced. (probably with tolerance classes)
 
But it's trying to say "Hey, Americans are fucking STUPID" when that's not always the case.

It doesn't really matter to Joe Six-Pack what the capital of Idaho is (Boise, I too learned them all)

Not being able to give out useless facts doesn't make you stupid.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
And the correlating link between Christianity and geographic ignorance would be...

Until you can supply one, how's about keeping your theological preferences to yourself?
Click to expand...

it's pretty well known that level of education and religiousness are inversely correlated.

those making sure they're not "left behind" really don't have a need for wordly learning, now do they?

certain forms of religion in america reject science and instead hedge their bets on faith. that breeds ignorance of the natural world and critical thinking. that holds back education. not that this is the only - or the most pressing - problem in american education. but is is an issue. and it's obvious to everyone but us.

if you don't like my opinion, ignore it.
 
Altron said:
But it's trying to say "Hey, Americans are fucking STUPID" when that's not always the case.
Click to expand...
But it is often enough to make it believable to non-Americans, isn't it?
 
chcr said:
But it is often enough to make it believable to non-Americans, isn't it?
Click to expand...

How many people in other countries who say 'Americans are fat, lazy, and stupid' bothered to check it out for themselves?
 
6th grade social studies, 1991. had to memorize pretty much the entire globe, one continent at a time (except asia, that was broken down further). all the states and the capitals also, and the provinces/capitals of america jr.
 
I once got extra credit points during "stump the teacher" for pointing out where Mauritius is. Who knew looking at shirt tags in Kmart would be a geography lesson? :D
 
Has anyone stopped to think the findings might be flawed.

Children are notoriously difficult to survey because they don't care and have no attention span. I was surveyed all the time when I was in middle school, as was everyone else in my class. I would make smile faces or patterns on the dot form. Sometimes I would answer all (A) just because it sounded like a good idea at the time.

Plus, anyone who has ever studied statistics knows that data, especially survey data, can be configured in a way to prove nearly any point. If the question was number 60 out of 100 how many kids do you think cared enough to both fill it out and spend the time to think about it?

The answer is found in the article.
“Roper poll conducted for National Geographic”
 
ekahs retsam said:
Has anyone stopped to think the findings might be flawed.

Children are notoriously difficult to survey because they don't care and have no attention span. I was surveyed all the time when I was in middle school, as was everyone else in my class. I would make smile faces or patterns on the dot form. Sometimes I would answer all (A) just because it sounded like a
Click to expand...

Americans between the ages of 18 and 24
Click to expand...

Although not children ,that age group tends to be more about themselves than whats going on in the world.
 
A.B.Normal said:
Although not children ,that age group tends to be more about themselves than whats going on in the world.
Click to expand...

ok, they aren’t children but the attention span isn't all that different really.
 
yeah i kinda doubt the findings were flawed.

america's education system is fuxored, except in universities where we we a good job of educating people from overseas who will someday hand our asses to us.

i used to work in a university engineering department and i know lots of guys named things like...
sohail
khusro
ahmad
keng
prem
muhanad
vijit
vijay
ramakrishna
bimal
et
cetera

not many americans in that mix.
 
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