Skippy!
Yep, here is one of my favorite examples ...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... urvey.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
some excerpts:
In a nation called the world's superpower, only 17 percent of young adults in the United States could find Afghanistan on a map, according to a new worldwide survey released today.
The young U.S. citizens received poor marks generally in geography. But then, as results showed, their counterparts in other countries were hardly star students.
The National Geographic–Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey polled more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden and the United States.
Sweden scored highest; Mexico, lowest. The U.S. was next to last.
About 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. couldn't even locate the U.S. on a map.
The Pacific Ocean's location was a mystery to 29 percent; Japan, to 58 percent; France, to 65 percent; and the United Kingdom, to 69 percent.
Are Young U.S. Citizens Americentric?
Despite the threat of war in Iraq and the daily reports of suicide bombers in Israel, less than 15 percent of the young U.S. citizens could locate either country.
More young U.S. citizens in the study knew that the island featured in last season's TV show "Survivor" is in the South Pacific than could find Israel.
Within the U.S., almost one-third said that population was between one billion and two billion; the answer is 289 million.
"It gives the sense that there is this Americentric thing going onâ€â€that we are big and powerful and have all these people in our country," said John Fahey, President and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
On the other hand, Pastor suggests that the results could mean that most young Americans just have no idea of the total world population (about six billion).
On average, fewer than 25 percent of young people worldwide could locate Israel on the map. Only about 20 percent could identify hotspots like Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
Of all the young adults in the survey, only about one-third in Germany, Sweden and Japan, could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons. In the rest of the countries that number dropped to less than a quarter. In France 24 percent did not know that that their own country was a nuclear nation.
In the highest-scoring countriesâ€â€Sweden, Germany and Italyâ€â€at least 70 percent of the young adults had traveled internationally in the last three years, and the majority spoke more than one language (in Sweden, 92 and 89 percent, respectively).
In the U.S. and Mexico only about 20 percent had traveled abroad during the same period and the majority spoke only one language.
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On the news last night a poll showed that fully 25% of Americans believe that Dawg is personally punishing us with hurricanes, etc. for our sinful ways.
gah!
Fal "I'll take Sweden" con
