young americans know little about world geography, with the majority unable to locate iraq on a map and three quarters unable to find indonesia, according to a study.
young americans know little about world geography, with the majority unable to locate iraq on a map and three quarters unable to find indonesia, according to a study.
the roper poll conducted the survey on behalf of national geographic and found that most of the young adults questioned between the ages of 18 and 24 also had little knowledge about their own country, with half or fewer unable to identify the states of new york or ohio on a map.
moreover, the study said, many of those questioned were not bothered by their lack of geographic knowledge.
"half think it is 'important but not absolutely necessary' either to know where countries in the news are located or to be able to speak a foreign language," a report on the survey said.
the report said that that nine in ten could not find afghanistan on a map of asia and 70 percent could not find north korea.
when questioned about natural disasters, only 33% correctly chose pakistan from four possible choices as the country hit by a huge earthquake in october 2008.
the survey was conducted between december 2008 and january 2008 and involved 510 interviews.
national geographic released the survey on last tuesday in launching a five-year campaign to improve geographic literacy among young people in the united states.
"geographic illiteracy impacts our economic well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from our world," said john fahey, national geographic society president. "without geography, our young people are not ready to face the challenges of the increasingly interconnected and competitive world."
"美國年輕人中“地理盲”居多"英語作文譯文:
一項調查顯示，美國年輕人的世界地理知識相當貧乏，大多數人在地圖上找不到伊拉克的位置，四分之三的人不知道印度尼西亞在哪裡。
洛普民意研究中心代表美國國家地理協會做了此項調查，調查發現：年齡在18歲至24歲間的多數受訪青年對本國的地理知識了解得也很少，其中近一半人無法在地圖上指出紐約州或俄亥俄州的具體位置。
調查還表明，很多受調查的年輕人對於缺乏地理知識並不以為然。
調查報告中說：“有一半的人認為，雖然知道新聞中提到的國家的具體位置或會說一門外語‘很重要，但並不是絕對必需的’”。
報告中提到，90%的年輕人在亞洲地圖上找不到阿富汗，70%的人找不到北韓。
當問及發生自然災害的國家時，僅有33%的人從四個選項中選出了巴基斯坦;巴基斯坦曾在2008年10月遭受了大地震的重創。
此項調查在去年12月至今年1月間進行，共有510名調查對象參與。
美國國家地理協會於上周二公布了調查結果，此協會啟動了一個五年計畫，旨在提高美國年輕人的地理知識水平。
國家地理協會主席約翰·費伊說：“地理知識的貧乏對我們的經濟繁榮、我國和其他國家的關係以及環境都會產生不良影響，並會將我們和外面的世界孤立開來。當今世界，各國間的聯繫日益緊密，競爭也越來越激烈，如果沒有地理知識，美國的年輕人將無法應對各種挑戰。”