Sometimes I hear the name of an Arabic country and become frustrated with myself because I can’t call up an instant mental map with that country on it. My geography skills are weak, but I recognize my weakness and work to improve them. When I am working on American geography, watching the weather channel helps me recall the states up around New York and those mid-western states that I have trouble remembering, but countries—well, that’s another matter. Usually the evening news reporters talk about foreign countries and show maps to help us locate them. Apparently they know how weak we Americans are in this area. I guess I’m not the only one.
For example, how many Americans know where Turkey is? I don’t mean having some vague idea like over there close to Iraq. Okay, so where’s Iraq?
In 2006, about 600 people between the ages of 18 and 24 were interviewed about geography. In spite of the constant coverage of Hurricane Katrina, almost one-third of these young Americans could not locate Louisiana on the map. Half couldn’t find Mississippi.
We did even worse with foreign locations. Six people out of 10 could not find Iraq on a map, according to a Roper poll conducted for National Geographic.
Unfortunately, our ignorance is not limited to geography. We don’t know much about our government either. In 2011 Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test--38 percent failed. We also know far too little about our government’s foundations. Even our most educated people don’t always understand how our constitution is supposed to work. Our ignorance puts us and our country in danger.
Writer Valentine Logar says that “ignorance can be corrected through education. Stupid is a birthright often passed down in families, but it doesn’t have to be so. Being stupid is a choice.” I’m not sure which category we fit in as a country, but there are several reasons for our worsening condition. A part of our problem with geography is that we fail to see the value of having that knowledge. According to national surveys, fewer than three in ten people think it important to know the locations of countries in the news, and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill. We are Americans, after all. Let other people learn English.
Everything we need to know is right there on the internet and colors our “need to know.” Why should we put forth the effort to learn information that sits at our fingertips 24 hours every day? I suppose no one ever thinks about the disappearance of this marvelous device. What if someone or some government cut it off? We know it’s entirely possible, but we prefer to close our eyes to that possibility.
It’s never too late to change, or I hope it isn’t. I know, of course, that every nation has and will always have people who just don’t want to learn and will not be encouraged, tempted, or even coerced to do so, but what about the rest of us? Not surprisingly, one of the best ways to educate ourselves is to read.
“I hate to read,” so many students have told me through the years.
My standard reply to them is, “I hate to wash dishes, too, but I certainly have to do it.”
By adulthood, we should all have enough self-discipline to read—if not for pleasure, then for information and education. Anne Paul tells us how good it is for us to read fiction: “brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain, improve it.”
We walk for our health, try to maintain a healthy diet, and really work at physical health. Shouldn’t we give at least equal time to our mental health as well? The consequences of ignoring it could be more dangerous than cancer.
Most readers will not find this article as interesting as most. However, it should be considered one of your best, teaching again, sharing your knowledge and experiences. If only everyone would consider the vacations that are taken, being an adventurer in a world that no one can deprive or the knowledge that no one can take away. READ A BOOK!!!