Where in the World?

While chatting with my friends on MSN last night, one of them sent me a link of a video that is currently circulating the Internet. Miss Teen South Carolina's 2007 response to the question, "recent polls have shown a 5th of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?" While her response was more than amusingly funny since not a single soul could decifer what her answer was. However, this question did make me think of how alarming these statistics really are.
The level of education that citizens have, in this case geographical studies, reflects alot on the overall national level of education, the nation's economy, and weakens the relationship with other nations around the world. According to a recent survey taken by the Roper Poll, it was found that 63% of young Americans could not locate Iraq on the map, and 48% were unable to locate Mississippi or Louisiana. Although there is no proof that Americans have the lowest level of geographical knowledge in the world, it is important for the government as well as privately owned institutions to take these numbers into consideration and act upon them. If we do not take action now, each new generation will only suffer with lower levels of general education. It is only for benefit that it is important for anyone, not just Americans, to have a good sense of geography, learn another language other than their maternal tongue, and be an all around "world citizen".

For a good laugh: Miss Teen USA 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww&NR=1