Is the Lack of Social Studies in Classrooms Affecting Students in Geography and Social Science? Research Paper

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A disturbingly large number of Americans cannot find their own country on a map. Although satirists like Steven Shehori (2008) exaggerate the problem, the truth is that too few Americans are geographically literate. According to Rosenberg (2007), the number of Americans who cannot locate their home country on a map is around three in fifty: or six percent of the total population. Shehori (2008), a Canadian, jokes that "a full 37% of American citizens are incapable of identifying their home country on a map of the United States." Shehori's hyperbole draws attention to the failures of the American education system in providing the most effective possible geography lessons. Even if 96% percent of Americans can identify the United States on a map, a much fewer number can identify other countries. For example, Roach (2006) cites research showing that "63% of Americans aged 18 to 24 failed to correctly locate" Iraq (p. 1). The numbers are even worse for other countries: a full 70% of Americans could not locate Iran or Israel on a map, and as many as nine out of ten could not identify Afghanistan, a nation with which the United States has been at war (Roach, 2006).

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There is also a paucity of geographic knowledge in general, and not just map skills. For example, Roach (2006) notes that three-quarters of American surveyed did not know that Indonesia was a Muslim nation, let alone the world's largest. One geographer lamented, "Young Americans just don't seem to have much interest in the world outside of the U.S.," (cited by Roach, 2006, p. 1). The reality is unfortunately that comedians like Shehori (2008) come painfully close to the truth when they say, "The sentiment of many Americans is that there's little intrinsic value in studying a map of a place you're already at," or "I believe if fewer people in this world could spot America on a map, we'd have a much better chance of avoiding national tragedies like 9/11" because "you can't attack a country you can't find."

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