Know Much Geography?

One of the wonders of the age is that in an era in which multicultural studies predominate at every level of education, geographical literacy is at an all-time low.

“Many young people leave high school lacking either the academic preparation necessary for post-secondary education, or the broad habits of mind necessary for success in the workplace and a diverse society,” Michael H. Levine [pictured] writes in a recent study published by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI).

Chief among these habits, it appears, is the ability to read, let alone fold, a map. Studies compiled and undertaken by the Asia Society, which Levine directs, tell the tale.

“Young Americans are next to last in their knowledge of geography and current affairs compared with young adults in eight other industrial countries,” Levine reports. “The overwhelming majority cannot find Afghanistan or Israel on a world map, but know that a recent ‘Survivor’ show was shot in the South Pacific.”

That survey indicates that students can remember what they have learned, which puts the onus for their lack of awareness squarely on their teachers’ shoulders. Their ‘Survivor’ instincts notwithstanding, do these young men and women even know where the South Pacific is?

“Surveys conducted by the Asia Society show a huge gap in most students’ knowledge about the growing importance of Asia and other world regions to our nation’s economic prosperity and national security,” according to Levine. “The surveys find that 25 percent of our college-bound high school students cannot name the ocean between California and Asia.”

That sense of direction can remain a problem well beyond the high school years, right up to the penthouse suite in the Ivory Tower. In late 2003, Ecuadoran professor Wilfrido Corral told of his surprisingly uphill struggle through California universities in a diversity-obsessed college culture that presumably would value the scholar’s expertise in issues Latin American.

“Of course, one would think that such exposure, which universities purportedly want in a scholar would work in my favor,” Professor Corral told Campus Report. “It has not, basically because it has not been my good fortune to work with any deans, at Stanford [University] or [the University of California at] Davis who even know where Ecuador is!”(Hint: Looking at the name of the country will give you a clue as to its location.)

Among the findings of the Asia Society’s executive director:

“Only about one-half of today’s high school students study a foreign language.

“Most prospective teachers do not take any international courses and have low participation rates in study-abroad programs.” (But could they find their travel destinations if they did participate in such programs?)

“Recent reports from the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and Harvard’s curriculum review committee confirm that most U. S. students lack sufficient knowledge about other world regions, languages, and cultures, and will not be able, if current educational practices continue, to be effective employees of globally-oriented organizations.”

Neither the Asia Society, which Levine works for, nor the publisher of his report, the PPI, are particularly conservative: The Asia Society was founded by one of the Rockefellers (John D. III) and the PPI by former President Bill Clinton. That lack of a right-wing orientation makes one of the warnings in Levine’s study, entitled “Putting The World Into Our Classrooms,” even more ominous.

“Our military and intelligence agencies are woefully in need of more linguists and cultural experts, particularly those specializing in the Middle East, Asia and Africa,” Levine writes.

Levine’s solutions to the problem of geographic myopia are the type favored by the educational establishment and rely on government programs. “Building on 50 years of federal support to promote international expertise at the post-secondary level, Congress and the president could direct funds from Title II of the [Higher Education Act] HEA to create partnerships between public schools and colleges or universities that would foster teaching excellence in international education, and create a new cadre of highly qualified teachers who understand the international dimensions of their subjects,” according to Levine.

In light of all of the above, we might well ask, what hath the past half century wrought?

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.