State and Local Legal Blog

Remember the National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs Geographic Literacy Study? In 2006, Young Americans (18 – 24) answered about half (54 percent) of all the survey questions correctly. But by and large, majorities of young adults fail at a range of questions testing their basic geographic literacy.

• Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
• 6 in 10 young Americans don’t speak a foreign language fluently.
• 20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It’s the largest country in Africa.)
• 48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It’s Hindu—by a landslide.)
• Half of young Americans can’t find New York state on a map.

But that’s not all. Three-quarters (74%) believe English is the most commonly spoken native language in the world, rather than Mandarin Chinese. Although 73% know the U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of oil, nearly as many (71%) do not know the U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of goods and services; – half think it’s China.  Fewer than half can locate the state of Ohio on a map (43%)

But because we are not teaching geography, it is not viewed as important.  Half of young Americans think it is “important but not absolutely necessary” either to know where countries in the news are located (50%) or to be able to speak a foreign language (47%) – and six in ten (62%) young Americans cannot speak a second language fluently (38% report being able to speak on or more non-native languages “fluently”). Indeed, young adults are far more likely to say
speaking a foreign language is “not too important” (38%) than to say it is “absolutely necessary” (14%).

And we think we can compete in a global economy? Come on, now.  Who are we kidding?