TheOtherView
Opinions from around the country

National Geographic and Roper recently joined forces to conduct the 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey, which interviewed more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Japan and the United States. Last week the results were released, making it official: People are getting dumber. Worse, the trend seems to be emanating from the United States, confirming a theory some Europeans have held for some time.

Admittedly, the farther away from America one ventures, the better each country’s resulting score. Sweden came in first, while the United States came in next to last. Mexico received the survey’s lowest grade. After reviewing the staggering simplicity of the questions asked, education departments in every country polled have been left suspect. The performance of young Americans was a disgrace:

• Eleven percent of those polled couldn’t find the United States on a map.
• Twenty-nine percent failed to locate the Pacific Ocean.
• Almost 60 percent couldn’t name Japan.
• Sixty-five percent missed when asked about France.
• About 69 percent of respondents couldn’t point to the United Kingdom on a map.

The hits keep on coming. Despite the 24/7 coverage by Fox, CNN and MSNBC about the possibility of a war with Iraq, less than 15 percent could identify its shape, size or placement on a map. About the same number successfully located Israel. In fact, more young U.S. citizens knew where “Survivor” took place last season than were able to identify either country.

Most embarrassing may be that every surveyed country came closer to guessing the U.S. population than American citizens did. Almost one-third said it was between a billion and two billion. (It’s a little more than a quarter of a billion.) Adding insult to injury, the number of Americans who said they had taken geography in school has risen from 30 to 55 percent since 1988. Still, a majority of Americans said they knew Africa is suffering mightily from AIDS. Many had heard about El Nino and the warmer winters it has brought about. Of course, such knowledge only really proves one has a pulse rather than indicating smarts of any sort.

The United States is already facing a fourth and long where education standards are concerned, and as this poll shows, it cannot afford to fall any further behind in the geography department. America’s self-respect is on the line. If something isn’t done soon, it may not be able to find that either.

This is a staff editorial from the Arkansas Traveler at the University of Arkansas. This editorial was distributed by U-Wire.