Thursday, May 04, 2006
WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HORRIFIED that most young Americans can't find Iraq on a map. Could you find Iraq on an unlabeled map? I think I could, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. "Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans aged 18-24" could do it, the National Geographic Society reports. Thirty or 40 percent sounds pretty impressive to me.
I'd be horrified if people couldn't find the Middle East, and I'm horrified that more than a third couldn't find Louisiana. I'm even concerned that only about half could find India. But Iraq as opposed to Iran or Saudi Arabia? Afghanistan vs. Pakistan? That strikes me as studying-for-a-test stuff, not everybody-knows-that stuff.
"I'm not sure how important it is that young adults can find Afghanistan on a map. But ... that is symptomatic of the bigger issue, and that's not having a sense that things around the world really matter that much," said John Fahey, president of the National Geographic Society.
That, I can agree with. And I'd like to see whether the reporters and editors who dutifully cranked out those alarmist leads and headlines know the whole freakin' globe like the backs of their hands.
I'd be horrified if people couldn't find the Middle East, and I'm horrified that more than a third couldn't find Louisiana. I'm even concerned that only about half could find India. But Iraq as opposed to Iran or Saudi Arabia? Afghanistan vs. Pakistan? That strikes me as studying-for-a-test stuff, not everybody-knows-that stuff.
"I'm not sure how important it is that young adults can find Afghanistan on a map. But ... that is symptomatic of the bigger issue, and that's not having a sense that things around the world really matter that much," said John Fahey, president of the National Geographic Society.
That, I can agree with. And I'd like to see whether the reporters and editors who dutifully cranked out those alarmist leads and headlines know the whole freakin' globe like the backs of their hands.
