I'll admit, I also grew up in a home with National Geographic maps on the walls, and have been fascinated with maps ever since. Come to think of it, I think I'll give the students a blank map of the U.S., without state borders, and make them draw them, label them and name the capitals. I learned all that stuff in seventh or eighth grade when it mattered a whole less than it does now. I shot back, "Ok, and also name all the capitals." They balked. "How can you function in this world without some grasp of 'Where'?" One of the students quipped, asking for a map of the United States. Only travel will do that, but still, howcab to function in this world without some grasp of "Where"? I'll admit, filling in a map doesn't make you less provincial and ethnocentric.
It tells me something about our education and politics that students no longer know basic geography-we are becoming more isolated and provincial as we are being more affected by the rest of the world. I'll admit, with the breakup of the Soviet union and independence of many African Nations, I don't know all the countries, but I sure know most of them, and especially all those who are in the news. One student said he'd last had geography in eighth grade. We started with the Mideast, then South America, Europe and then to Asia. So said a senior in my International Media class this week, after I gave them a blank map quiz on Asia, and posted another of Southeast Asia for next week.mistakenly putting it on this blog, instead of the class blog, ClarkInternational.
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