Geographic Knowledge in America is Severely Lacking

Paul McDaniel

I hardly ever go anywhere that, upon hearing I'm a geographer, someone asks me what geography really is and what I really do - as if geography is simply my cover for clandestine activities. Most people seem to be under the impression that geography is merely memorizing the locations of place names. Although that is a useful skill, one that is much needed in today’s world of globalization, it is a skill that may be equated to being familiar with a list of vocabulary words if your field is literature. Geographic literacy is necessary for us to understand global events and cultures. Geography, as a spatial science, can be applied to the study of a vast array of subjects because everything has place. Historians look at the world chronologically or temporally, political scientists and economists look at the world structurally, geographers look at the world spatially. But geography also draws upon other fields, becoming interdisciplinary in nature - not narrowly focusing on one topic - which is especially useful in this world today where events and places are very interrelated and affect each other in a myriad of ways.

International surveys consistently rank American high school and college students near the bottom for geographic literacy. For one example, see the recently released 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Education. It is a profound embarrassment that many U.S. citizens show such a limited understanding of the world. Examples of results from the survey are troubling. Only 37 percent of young adults in the U.S. could locate Iraq on a map despite the fact that America has been involved militarily in that country since 2003 with near constant media coverage, while only one in ten could find Afghanistan. Concerning their own country, half of the people surveyed could not find New York on a map, while one-third could not locate Louisiana despite the enormous amount of media coverage during and after Hurricane Katrina last year. The list of results could go on and on.

The most alarming results reveal young Americans’ overall apathetic attitude in procuring such knowledge. Seventy percent of those polled said they did not think it important to know the locations of countries in the news. This perpetuates the stereotypical view of dumb, indifferent, self-centered Americans held by many overseas. Even more startling are the results from the previous 2002 National Geographic-Roper Global Survey of Geographic Education. In this study Americans age 18-24 came in next to last among nine countries included in the survey which quizzed more than 3,000 young adults in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. Top scorers were young adults in Sweden, Germany, and Italy. These disturbing results indicate that young adults in the U.S. are unprepared for a future of increasing worldwide interactions.

Geographic literacy is more than knowing states and capitals. An understanding of how people and places interact, where things come from, and where we're going are all at the core of what geography is. Without geography, our young people are ill-equipped for an increasingly global future. Gaining insights and perspectives of the world through one or all of the five themes of geography would be a useful endeavor. These include: (1) Location - relative location and absolute location; (2) Place - human characteristics and physical characteristics; (3) Human-Environmental Interactions - humans adapt to the environment, humans modify the environment, and humans depend on the environment; (4) Movement - people, goods, and ideas; and (5) Regions - formal, functional, or vernacular (perceptual).

The foreign policy and actions of the United States impact many local places and lives of people around the world. In turn, those actions, in addition to other international events, affect us domestically. People of the United States ought to take it upon themselves to know of the people and places affected by the actions of their government. What’s worse is that many highly educated people, including those in government, are clueless when it comes to geography. Public education in geography desperately needs to be enhanced, especially as the United States has emerged in the 21st century as the world’s dominant power.

American citizens need to assume the responsibility of learning about the world because what America does affects the entire globe. We need to be prepared to confront challenges on an informed and intelligent level. In this globalized world every place is interconnected in countless ways, and geography is the key to understanding those interconnections.

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Paul McDaniel is a geographer at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on the geography of globalization relating to migration and immigration to the U.S. South. He may be reached at pmcdani1@utk.edu.