80 Per Cent of U.S. Students Don’t Know Geography

Our world is ever more global and just like our poor reading results 80 per cent of United States students do not know their geography.

This data was released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Nation’s Report Card.

High school seniors are the least proficient in geography according the to the NAEP in their study released on July19, 2011.

“It is beyond incongruous that our students have smart phones with every possible app including maps and directions and not only don’t know where states are located but countries in the world as well,” said Pat Wyman, University Instructor at California State University, East Bay and founder of HowToLearn.com. “How will they possibly learn to live in the global economy?”

The seniors dropped their scores more than any other grade since the geography test was last given in 2001.

The lack of geography knowledge sadly lacking in the fourth and eighth grade as well. 79 per cent of 4th graders and 73% of eighth graders were not proficient in their knowledge either.

The geography test information gets worse. Students were tested on their cognitive skills via problem-solving questions and could not respond to simple questions like what the effects of a monsoon in India would be.

Roger M. Downs, a geography professor at Pennsylvania State University says he was concerned that “geography’s role in the curriculum is limited and, at best, static.”