World History
Geography Greek to Young Americans. I sadly point out this report from CNN.
It notes, "The study, which surveyed 510 young Americans from December 17 to January 20, showed that 88 percent of those questioned could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia despite widespread coverage of the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and the political rebirth of the country."
This is not a surprise to me. I once was talking about Afghanistan in class and discussed the Soviet invasion and the American boycott of the 1980 Olympic games. Sadly, a student asked me what the heck the Soviet Union was. He brightened up when I told him that it was an earlier version of Russia. (I know. That is not exactly true but at least he could grasp what I was talking about.)
The report also notes, "In the Middle East, 63 percent could not find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map, and 75 percent could not point out Iran or Israel. Forty-four percent couldn't find any one of those four countries."
And they can not find Iraq. No wonder it is difficult to engage my students in serious debate about the war in Iraq. They do not know where it is and they have no idea about the history of Iraq or any other Middle East country.
Of course, there are many bright students who understand geography and history in the USA. But there sure are a lot of them who are geographically illiterate and do not care to correct the problem on their own. I will not even go into the story of one woman in my class who thought Canada was in Europe and actually argued with me about it...
- Overthrow: America's Century Of Regime Change From Hawaii To Iraq
I just finished reading Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. It is by Stephen Kinzer. A description of the book reads, "A fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States...
- The Nature Of Geographic Literacy
The ERIC Digest The Nature of Geographic Literacy is by Alan Backler and Joseph Stoltman. It is from 1986. Despite the age of the article, it is still an interesting read. Students do not understand geography and this directly hinders their ability to...
- Fun Geography Games
Thanks to Byzantium's Shores for leading me towards two fun geography games. Both are simple. Type in as many American states or UN member nations as you can in ten minutes. Spelling counts! The American states game is here and the UN nation one is...
- So Much For Tv, Violence And Society: Actually These Are Quite Peaceful Times
So Much for TV, Violence and Society: Actually These are Quite Peaceful Times. Do you think most of us live in violent times? If you are in Iraq or Sudan, you might indeed be living in a violent world. For most of us though, we have it rather peaceful...
- At Cold War's End: Us Intelligence On The Soviet Union And Eastern Europe, 1989-1991
At Cold War's End: US Intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1989-1991 - A CIA document including links to full-text intelligence reports on events during the final years the Soviet Union and the Cold War. It also includes a brief historical...
World History
Geography Greek to Young Americans
Geography Greek to Young Americans. I sadly point out this report from CNN.
It notes, "The study, which surveyed 510 young Americans from December 17 to January 20, showed that 88 percent of those questioned could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia despite widespread coverage of the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and the political rebirth of the country."
This is not a surprise to me. I once was talking about Afghanistan in class and discussed the Soviet invasion and the American boycott of the 1980 Olympic games. Sadly, a student asked me what the heck the Soviet Union was. He brightened up when I told him that it was an earlier version of Russia. (I know. That is not exactly true but at least he could grasp what I was talking about.)
The report also notes, "In the Middle East, 63 percent could not find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map, and 75 percent could not point out Iran or Israel. Forty-four percent couldn't find any one of those four countries."
And they can not find Iraq. No wonder it is difficult to engage my students in serious debate about the war in Iraq. They do not know where it is and they have no idea about the history of Iraq or any other Middle East country.
Of course, there are many bright students who understand geography and history in the USA. But there sure are a lot of them who are geographically illiterate and do not care to correct the problem on their own. I will not even go into the story of one woman in my class who thought Canada was in Europe and actually argued with me about it...
- Overthrow: America's Century Of Regime Change From Hawaii To Iraq
I just finished reading Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. It is by Stephen Kinzer. A description of the book reads, "A fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States...
- The Nature Of Geographic Literacy
The ERIC Digest The Nature of Geographic Literacy is by Alan Backler and Joseph Stoltman. It is from 1986. Despite the age of the article, it is still an interesting read. Students do not understand geography and this directly hinders their ability to...
- Fun Geography Games
Thanks to Byzantium's Shores for leading me towards two fun geography games. Both are simple. Type in as many American states or UN member nations as you can in ten minutes. Spelling counts! The American states game is here and the UN nation one is...
- So Much For Tv, Violence And Society: Actually These Are Quite Peaceful Times
So Much for TV, Violence and Society: Actually These are Quite Peaceful Times. Do you think most of us live in violent times? If you are in Iraq or Sudan, you might indeed be living in a violent world. For most of us though, we have it rather peaceful...
- At Cold War's End: Us Intelligence On The Soviet Union And Eastern Europe, 1989-1991
At Cold War's End: US Intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1989-1991 - A CIA document including links to full-text intelligence reports on events during the final years the Soviet Union and the Cold War. It also includes a brief historical...