Why don't American kids learn geography any more?
494492
I am an American and learned Geography very well.  By the 3rd grade, I could point out abput 92% of the countries.  Those little island countries like Vanuatu and Tuvalu, I skipped those (hence the 8%).\n\nRegardless, I wish I could say it was just the "no child left behind" program where the speed of the class is at the lowest learner's abilities.  But Geography hasn't been in the forefront for a long time.\n\nIn 3rd grade we learned all the US states.  In 9th grade we learned the countries.  And only 1 Geography class is required in college.  That's it.  If you don't have US geography down in the 3rd grade your finished, unless you take the initiative to go back & learn it.\n\nAnd some people just aren't good at memorization.
543944
If you're going to refer to a poll by CNN then you need to post a link for us to see this poll.  Otherwise, we think you're full of it and are just trying to stir the pot.\n\nThanks for the link.  Yes, I don't understand either, it's appalling.  The only answer I can think of is that they aren't focusing on Geography in the schools anymore and let's face it, for a lot of kids if it isn't force fed to them by the schools they sure aren't going to go out of their way to learn it.  Sad but true.
182454
I am a Canadian living in the US and have done substitute teaching here.  I have found through my work and my wife's statements of what she learned, that there is very little world history taught through basic education here.  They do learn a bit about Canada and Mexico, but it seems, that if it doesn't relate directly to the US, it isn't that important.
462655
Beacause Americans are too lazy to learn something interesting in a classroom and are always playing video games all day long and watching too much garbage on TV!!!! I for one was born here in the U.S. know what part of the world a country is located and I'm bilingual so that makes me smarter than the one-dimensional, one language American that wants to be ignorant and dumb. Most Americans don't even know how to read a gas gauge on a car when it runs out empty on them.
85816
I think mostly because geography is not a mandatory subject to take.\n\nSecondly, America is like "the center of the world". People around the world are so fascinated with our country, want to learn more about it, follow our fashion sense, listen to our music and watch our movie.Thus, what's the point to learn about other countries if everybody looks up to us.\nIgnorant?Definetely but can't really blame the  Americenter phenomenon.\n\nI was born in Asia. Everytime i mentioned the country,nobody rarely knows where it is.\nAt first, I was a lil' upset but now, I'm so use to it.\n\nPeople always pay attention to something that stands out (e.g:America)and rarely pay attention to something unimportant (e.g: smaller countries)
347984
There's like a buttload of differences. I'm 45. I walked or rode my bike to school. Lots of kids did, even in high school. Now the bike racks are gone. We had no internet, not even desktop computers. No Ipods. Not even Walkmans. No cell phones. No CDs. We had records, cassettes, and 8 track tapes. There were no school shootings, drugs were extremely limited, the big deal in high school was smoking. If you could get away with smoking, you were a big deal. Limos at the prom were rare. Most of us drove ourselves. It was much much smoggier when I was a kid. The air in Southern California was brown and smelled bad. Gas was cheap compared to now, but wages were lower, so it didn't much matter. When I was a kid, we had Vietnam on TV every night until the early 70s. Now we have Iraq on TV every night.
1005856
Good question. I am continually surprised at the loss of intelluctual people these days.  It seems a good education and learning has gone down the drain. I don't know if it's the pupils or the system itself.  Grammer has gone to the dogs.  Kids these days don't even understand the difference between 'its' and 'it's'.
856951
Isn't ANYTHING taught in schools anymore?
36996
Way to make sure your son gets a good education.  How are you doing with his geography homework?
327362
Doesn't anyone do their own homework anymore.  No wonder the youth of American are failing.  I dread our future.
47866
Because we're way smarter than yanks lol! only joking. The following is just my theory - As a Briton I believe our basic education system falls short in many areas. For the majority this is not good, however, those with a strong desire to learn have an advantage. Because of substandard basic education, there is less purely acedemic BS clogging up the brain leaving more space for ground breaking new ideas. Put simply, liken the human brain to a computer - take away MS Windows (the acedemic BS that makes the computer 'average'), and you have a machine that is open to new ideas (OS's), ie, it can think 'outside the box', which is a vital key in inventive thinking.\n\nNow if only british government & industry would start backing our young inventors instead of forcing them to sell their ideas to the far east...
491492
Technology advanced, and the younger generation just haven't learned self discipline. They are becoming more lazier because of the new technology. No longer do kids have to walk to school, they can take the bus or drive to school. Even bikes are no longer becoming an option! I see kids taking their electric scooters to school! Its getting really sad now.\n\nbut what do you think about this\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgqlIP_uxrr6kgeI32vQNLnsy6IX?qid=1006052000004
233200
My idea about teaching history and geography: start locally. find out where (geography) your students' folks came from and when and why? (history). If their folks are locals, go to the grandparents. Where did they come from? When ? Why? History and geography should be fascinating. It's not just a bunch of facts and figures: it's about love and war and hate and making more money and taking care of your family and squabbles and rivalries. It's a regular soap opera. We all come from somewhere.
788835
In one way you are right. It is true technology has pretty much made American students... dumber. One evidence of this is our present and our history. Many immigrants do come to the U.S. to strive for a better education which was never provided in their home land, but there are also those who do not aim for that education. There are many who just go to school to cause chaos and distractions for other students, and get involved in gangs and of the likes. Simply, immigrants aren't really to blame.
744436
its 50/50 why is because if the child goes to skool in india it with teach em their culture and origin. but the u.s is more advanced...so they will learn more. (no offence to anyone)
186475
For the most part it is due to the fact that the American education system fails miserably in its attempt to teach children basic reading and comprehension skills. The system insists on teaching children math skills when they haven't even learned to read.  If the system was restructured to concentrate on reading and comprehension in the first few years, later in schooling the child could easily learn skills for the profession he or she is interested in. I am so thankful that my second and third grade teacher forced me into learning how to read. She kept me after school many a night and drilled reading skills into my cranium gray matter. Her name was Mrs. Wesson of Lincoln school in a town called Freeport Illinois. God rest her wonderful soul!
556368
Damien, you have to admit that the level of education, as a whole, has been degraded. I was in retail management and noticed the change as far back as the mid 70's.  When Reagan was governor he did lower the curve out here to accomodate the slower learners. As an end result, we are now a nation of dittoheads, are too stupid to protest the most visible and blatant misuse of our federal government and the corruption of our voting rights.  \nOur young heroes are like lemmings, running out to attack a country who's biggest crime against America was having a leader who threatened to kill some richkids dad!  \nI am not impressed.