"I know the average teenager doesn't have half a brain."
Do you know where Transylvania is? I'll give you until the end of the column to come up with the answer. (Hint: "Transylvania is where vampires live" is not the type of answer I am looking for.)
In America we are always in a "gap crisis." We had the missile gap with the Russians in the 60s. We had the rock 'n' roll gap with the English in the 70s and we've been living with the trade gap for so long we've stopped calling it a gap and now just refer to it as "business as usual."
America is facing another crisis, folks; one I have chosen to label a "gap". I'm talking about the "map gap" we have with the rest of the world. You already know the average American kid doesn't know his ass from his elbow. It turns out that he doesn't know where anything else in the world is located either.
The indisputable scientific evidence of the map gap was brought to all America in living color when Lauren Caitlin, a Miss Teen USA pageant contestant, was asked why many Americans can't find the U.S. on a world map. I won't embarrass Miss Caitlin any further by printing her response here. However, you can choose to embarrass her by going to YouTube.
A survey-based report on geographic literacy released by the National Geographic News states that "63 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate Iraq on a map of the Middle East. Seventy percent could not find Iran or Israel. Nine in 10 couldn't find Afghanistan on a map of Asia." The report goes on to add, "The U.S. trailed every other country in that survey, except Mexico."
In fairness to our neighbors to the south, I must add that every Mexican student did know where the United States was on a map, as well as the exact geographical coordinates of the 12 easiest border crossings.
For a society that has satellite photos, Google maps and GPS computers in our cars, you'd think we would be more geographically literate. But all this technology is the problem. We're letting the electrons do the heavy map lifting for us.
Take road maps. First of all, to use one you have to make a considerable time investment in learning how to fold and unfold the map — a full semester course in most institutions of higher learning. If you travel through more than four states without basic map folding skills, your car will look like the cleanup room at the last World Origami Convention.
Folding class isn't all. You'll need to buy an electron microscope to read the fine printed street names. You also must have a general sense of the geographic ABCs, which in this case are East, South, West and Grumpy. No wait, that's one of the seven dwarfs. Just kidding. Everyone knows the fourth basic map direction is Up.
Another downside to paper maps is that they have never devised a good system for indicating one-way streets or speed traps.
My question is Why would any American teenager with half a brain damage his eyesight beyond the point where the New York Times Large Print edition is a blur when, for a few hundred dollars (three days allowance for most teenagers), he can have a GPS Roadside Companion module in his car that will tell him, in a sexy voice if he chooses, where to turn and when? I'm exaggerating to make a point. I know the average teenager doesn't have half a brain. Interpret that statement in any direction you like except Up.
To further increase geographic literacy at the middle and high school level, the National Geographic Society has launched a public-engagement campaign called My Wonderful World. I would like to pitch in here and point out to today's teenagers that being in the geographic groove can increase their chances to win BIG money on TV quiz shows. All those questions were written by men in their 50s who actually took geography in school.
OK, the suspense has gone on long enough. Back to the initial question: Do you know where Transylvania is? Of course you don't. You're a product of the patented American education system. This is the same system that mandates no child be left behind because, if any were, no one could ever find them again.
Don't look to me for the answer. I went through the same educational system you did.
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Comments: 51
I do know a lot about the country, though, including the vital phrase "Do you need to go to the bathroom NOW?" in both English and Romanian. Good to know when you have a young child with you, unless you really like changing wet clothes ;)
I learned it from the history channel. It has been to long for me to remember what I have and haven't learnrt in school.
The point is when you are exposed into something you tend to read more about it in order to know... I mean in your country..some has everything so why bother know the places of each place... for example do you know the capital of Sir lanka or the capital of Kenya?? You might or you might not...Would that measure your IQ or sth...I doubt that...
The question is...Should we know each place and its location? My answer would be some places.
Okay - I confess: I am geographically-challenged. It's not that I did not care where Transylvania was when I was in school; it's just that I process and retain some things better than others. I understand East-West-North-South; I just sometimes get confused when I try to figure out where I am based on where the sun came up that morning. However, I am still cute and have a good sense of humor so I got that going for me.
(I know that now some of my connections are wondering how on earth a gal like me got into geocaching - and actually FINDS a cache now and then. I don't know either. But stranger things have happened.)
My husband and I recently bought a GPS for the SUV. I love the thing; I don't have to think about where I am when I drive and I never get lost anymore. I was telling a friend about it and made the enthusiastic comment that "I don't know how we ever got along without it." There was silence on the other end of the phone and then she said, "Kellie, it's called a MAP!" Duh - I forgot.
Not that it matters; I am abysmally bad at reading maps. I once had to literally stand on the map to figure out where I was and how to get where I wanted to be. I wouldn't admit that to just anyone - only to 300,000 or so of my closest friends.
Interestingly, I do know where Transylvania is. I know because I got curious one day and looked it up. That is how in my adulthood (whatever that is) I learn geography - I look up wherever it is I am reading about and it seems to stick. Which mystifies me since I know I have only about a tenth of the active brain cells I had when I was in school.
And for the record, the average teenager has more than half a brain, but frontal lobe development is not yet complete. So he or she has half of the mellow, reflective, beta wave generating brain. The most important thing is that they don't know what they haven't been taught!
I enjoyed this very much... especially since I am a map freak. I have an 18' wide x 18' high wall in my studio that is covered edge to edge with topo maps of upstate New York, (Adirondack region). For years I have "read" these maps like a book, looking for interesting geographical and / or geological features and then planning a day trip to see what it really looks like.
Still, I admit a weakness in identifying all the Eurasian countries created anew by the breakup of the Soviet Union.
BTW, I knew Romania was the answer. Don't know why, just know crap like that.
I heard a lot of shocking map-unawareness when we lived in Oklahoma in the 1970s-80s. Some people didn't understand that New Mexico was a state - thought it was something below the border along with Old Mexico. One person asked me if, when we lived in Wisconsin, it was hard to adjust to the six months of darkness.
I couldn't make this up. One of my own children asked me (as an adult) if San Francisco was in California. Something went very wrong, somewhere.
Enjoyed this article immensely, John. Most of the young people I know (our children and their friends) are very well-educated. They know EVERYTHING!!! But seriously, you'd really enjoy talking with them. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. Sadly, they're in the minority.
As for teenagers and maps, every teen knows "north" is at the top of the computer monitor.
It is too bad that geography is not emphasized much in school. Lack of that skill, and knowledge of world history are, in my book, leading to a lot of misunderstanding in the new global neighborhood.
I want to add that I can fold a map. My father taught my sisters and I to fold maps at an early age, and I tried to pass that specialized skill along to my daughters. I can also read a map, and don't get lost. I have a husband who drove truck for 40 years; he can find anything! We aren't buying GPS. I fear we're a dying generation, lol.
After history, geography was my best subject! I know EXACTLY where Transylvania is! (I'm not telling, though, cuz that'd be cheating...) The countries I have trouble with are all of the African ones. This is because they change on a daily or weekly basis and have too many consonants in them...
When both my daughter and my stepson were taking geography in "middle school" (which was called "junior high" in MY day...) I LOVED helping them with their geography tests! (They, however, weren't as thrilled of course...)
I helped them make up little "tricks" to remember the capitals of some of the countries, e.g.:
"When you get tired as you're "roaming" around in Romania (hint: this one has something to do with the question posed in the article) you should sit down and give your 'book-a-rest' [Bucharest]."
"Up in the ice-covered country of Finland, there's this HUGE hole in the middle of the capital and everything is sinking down to Hell [Helsinki]."
There were many, many more that I made up that were actually pretty funny (like the several-stories high Buddha in Hungary that, like Godzilla, is making a real 'pest' of himself [Budapest]) but, believe it or not, BOTH kids passed their geography tests with flying colors and neither one of them were above-average students at the time...
I agree with a few of the other posts here. If you have a map and know how to read it, why do you have to know everything on it? If you have an element chart, and know how to read it, why would you have to know it all? The people who know are people who use the information most often, and not the more intelligent of us. Do you know the exact measurements to make grits? I can tell you off the top of my head that one serving is one c. water, 3 Tbs. grits, a pinch of salt and a pat of butter. Why? Am I a better chef than others? No, I just have a daughter who loves grits and asks me to make it for her on a regular basis. Knowing that c. stands for cup and Tbs. stands for Tablespoon are the tools I need to cook, but doesn't make me a master chef either. But if I know the tools and how to use them, I should be able to pick up any recipe and make it come to life. It's the same with maps. We are a country who knows how to use maps. We have the tools. And if anyone were to ask us, we could wield our mapping and internet savvy to come up with the answer.
Yes, I do get that American's are viewed as self-centered, and don't know where other countries are because they aren't interested and don't want to know. Seeing maps on the news frequently has given some of us the ability to know where places are in general until they look up the exact information. So is this a let down by our government? Or is our government giving us what we ask for? That touches on a few issues that the world has with American's. If you don't know about the suffering of other nations or even that they exist, but know the date the new iPod is coming out, that could rise up anger in nations struggling to find enough water and food for their people.
Yes, let's get informed.
Now, down to business. Roll over John and let me bite your neck. (throaty laugh)
I seem remember these names from a Dr. Seuss book I think.
I don't think he knew either.
So many do not.
I used to learn where everything was on a map for tests at school, then forget the day after. Also, I can't tell right from left. But I can read a map, I do look at the globe and atlas, and I tried hard to teach my kids not to forget everything the day after the test.