It was recently reported on James Madison University’s website that JMU is ranked 14th on the “2008 Peace Corps top 25 list for large colleges and universities”. This is an amazing achievement and students, faculty, and community alike should be proud. As a senior, I have noticed a commitment to community service and charity among the JMU campus for the past four years. It is uncommon to walk through the Commons without a table set up with the goal of collecting money for a cause.
Yet, despite the JMU student body’s apparent worldliness, there have been recent accusations that the United States’ youth is anything but familiar with their surroundings. According to a 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy, young adults may indeed be cartographically challenged. The survey stated that out of a nationwide representative sample of 510 Americans between the ages of 18-24, half could not find New York on a map. We hear about Iraq in the media, the campaign trail, in class and conversation almost everyday, yet approximately 63% of young Americans could not locate it on a map of the Middle East- Can you? You may have heard about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, a region in the country of Sudan. You may have become aware of the situation from campus events, class, the news, or by actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle who are big proponents of aid for this beleaguered nation. Yet, apparently, 20 percent of us think the largest nation in Africa, Sudan, is in Asia. Yikes!
What do you believe? Is our generation doomed to regress and become isolationists simply because we are unfamiliar with the rest of the world, or is there a definite split between those in the know and those that aren’t? There are students that take the time to watch the news, are fortunate enough to be able to travel, and pay attention to national and world affairs. Then there are the students who ask where the United Kingdom is (Sadly, only 36% of those surveyed could find it). A lag in geography is also symptomatic of a citizenry that is internationally ignorant. It is not simply a matter of being able to read latitude and longitude, but also having an idea about a country’s culture, its government, and its relations with the United States. It is a citizen’s responsibility, especially by adulthood to educate his or herself and keep track of current events. If you can buy a foreign lager in a bar, hopefully you will be able to also point out on a globe the country, or at least the continent that it was brewed in. If you never had a lesson on geography in school, that is unfortunate, but perhaps you should stop making excuses…now I’m just throwing this out there… and take a couple minutes to study South Africa or figure out where Finland is.
I believe our generation cannot be judged by this survey. Call me a naïve optimist, but I see the glass as half full. My very own roommate has been accepted to the Peace Corps and will be leaving to volunteer later this year. I certainly have not lost faith in out generation, (even though some of us would probably be lost if asked to point out Brazil). My confidence in JMU has also not diminished. I hope that this recent Peace Corp ranking is some kind of indication that we are an exception to the statistics. I also believe that for every person who is confused between say Australia and Austria, there are people like my roommate and like many other students who are passionate about world affairs and know exactly where they are and where they are going.
If after reading this you are feeling a little nervous about your own knowledge of the world, do not be discouraged! Please turn on the news, conduct a little online research, or at the very least pull out those fourth grade social studies notes stashed away in mom’s keepsake cabinet, and give yourself a refresher, because apparently our generation desperately needs it!
Sources: GFK Roper Public Affairs. 2006. Final Report: National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006 Geographic Literacy Study. New York: GFK Roper Public Affairs.
Picture Source: Geography Classroom http://home.att.net/~geographyclassroom/lav.earth.gif
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