Hey did you guys see the Penn and Tellar show where they tried to get signings on a petition to ban Dihydrogen Monoxide. Classic. I love it.

National Geographic does a survey of young Americans testing their geographic knowledge.

Some of the highlights of the 2002 survey:

13% can find Iraq on a map of the Middle East
14% can find Israel on a map of the Middle East
34% could find the island used on the 2001 season of 'Survivor'

American youths were the least likely of all surveyed nations to know that the Taliban is based in Afghanistan

30% think America has a population of 1 - 2 billion (and every other country surveyed knew the population of the US better than Americans do)

48% think that India is a majority Muslim nation

37% can find England on a map of Europe

And my personal favorite, 11% of Americans aged 18-24 cannot find America on a map of the world.

Full results here if you're interested.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

At least we're smarter than Mexico

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America is a melting pot, the people at the bottom get burned while all the scum floats to the top.
- - - Charlie King

But when it comes down to it, while these seem stunning to us, I don't think geographic knowledge is exactly a fair assessment of intelligence or even overall knowledge. Frankly, i would be irritated if we focused more on locating geographic locations on maps at the expense of other, more important things.
Hell, the only reason I could find Israel or Iraq on a blank map is because I've had multiple Middle East classes.
The most disturbing stat is the one about the Taliban... because that is not so much a lack of gegraphic knowledge... as a total lack of awareness about world events.
Though it is sad that even 11% of the population can't find the US.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

I see it as basic knowledge that everyone should know. When I was younger, before I could play or something my mom would spit out a country and I would have to point it out on the globe...(later on quizzed what the capital of that country was). Sure, it's not gonna save my life in a mountain lion attack, but it wont hurt to know, either.

We do sacrifice some of the basics to make room for education that's beneficial for a students' future at the expense of knowledge that we take for granted

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America is a melting pot, the people at the bottom get burned while all the scum floats to the top.
- - - Charlie King

But honestly... which would you rather have:
classes that teach creativity and innovation (from art classes to some business-type classes)
classes that teach information-seeking and analysis (social science, English)
classes that teach communication (English, languages, rhetoric)
classes that teach logic (math, philosophy)
classes that teach about how to operate in bureaucracy, how our system works (government, civics, business)
classes that teach skills necessary in our economy (business, computers, communication)
understanding of methodology, science (science)
understanding of human culture (social science, history, humanities)

or more classes that teach the absorption of information, most of which is both uninteresting and useless and generally turns kids off learning unless they have a specific interest...

I find it more concerning when any of the earlier ones are missing, then if kids can't find a specific country on a specific map.
That's one of those things that if they need to know it- they can look it up in an encyclopedia- provided they learned how to seek information and read.

__________________
"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

You're right to an extent. Why learn anything about anything when all you need to know is 'google'? It's amazing the amount of knowledge that our brains will absorb, and it's also amazing the amount of data that doesnt get absorbed in a normal k-12 education. I remember my entire 5th grade was copying down notes from the chalkboard, memorizing them, taking a test, then repeating. I have no idea what it was that I was scurrying to get on paper. I remember the hand cramps though.(knowledge vs. data). For this point I would consider home-schooling, but there are too many cons associated with home-schooling as well.

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America is a melting pot, the people at the bottom get burned while all the scum floats to the top.
- - - Charlie King

The trouble with home-schoolong is that it would require a lot of bureaucracy and regulation to make it work on a larger scale... First of all, you'd need a larger number of households with at least one parent who has enough time to teach... And then there are all the practically unenforcable regulations we'd need to ensure homeschooling is effective.
I think the voucher idea has merit... The fear I have of it now is that, since it will be mostly financed by corporations, the schools will expand a bit too much on workforce-related skills at the expense of culture and innovation... I think the voucher-crowd is too often full of the same people who think test scores should govern all education...
Kind of like I think the Libertarian Party is too built up of disaffected Republicans to make any amount of sense for me...

It seems now we must question the merits of avoiding an idea simply because of its backing by people we wish not to be associated with

__________________
"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

Well I just noted that homeschooling has at least one thing going for it. Bottom line is proper education (that is if the parent knows how to connect with the child and teach in a manner that the child can most effectively absorb information) vs. social skills (which cannot be taught by a parent)

Solution - Hybrid schools. Parents choose which subjects they want to teach their children and which they dont mind the school teaching them. Should come out to about 50/50 with the children getting solid information AND socializing skills. Could be every other day classes, or half day classes, etc.

As a parent you only got one shot at educating your kid and you want it done right, so there is no easy CHEAP answer right now

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America is a melting pot, the people at the bottom get burned while all the scum floats to the top.
- - - Charlie King

A lot of parents can't even competently manage more basic parenting skills... I don't expect they'd get this.

On a side-note, have you ever noticed that those "concerned" parents you see on TV news so often are exactly the parents that are most likely to screw up their kids if not for the intervention of a public institution?

__________________
"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III