I sound like a broken record sometimes. This, I know. But it is of the utmost importance for us to stress education. Not only in our children – in ourselves as well. Our world is so fast-paced and tech-raced these days that little —alarmingly little— time is spent trying to stretch our minds.
I don’t have to tell you that this will lead to nothing good!
Check out the following findings of a recent Geography Survey:
- Thirty-three percent of respondents couldn’t pinpoint Louisiana on a map.
- 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.
- Forty-seven percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.
- Seventy-five 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.
Check out a really good CNN article dealing with our collective lack of geography skills.
I’m off to borrow my daughter’s Geography book. I didn’t get all of the ones above correct and I’m not feeling too good about that!
Make each moment count double,
~Joi
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