Musing this morning after reading an article by Charlayne Hunter-Gault and John Stremlau at the Root, Go Global, America!, about geography, and why it is important that we focus more attention on teaching a global perspective. They wrote:
During his trip to Ghana, President Barack Obama will deliver a major address celebrating democracy. The speech comes at a time when the president’s efforts to improve America’s image in the world seem to be paying off. But if Obama is to succeed in turning around those negative perceptions of America—the consequences of which Americans living abroad must deal with all the time—Americans at home have to help.
And that simply means Americans have to be better informed about people beyond the nation’s borders. This is a tough task when the foreign news that reaches most Americans rarely goes beyond the four Ds—death, disease, disaster and despair. Living and working in Africa has affirmed that for us. The Africa portrayed in Western media is almost unrecognizable to those of us who live there.
Periodically, I teach an anthropology class at the State University "Cultures of Africa" and the first day of class I hand out this blank map. (I do the same for a course on cultures of the Caribbean)
I ask the students, most of whom are juniors and seniors, to fill in the names of the countries they recognize. The class has between 40-50 students. Few are ever able to identify more than 3. Many return a blank map sheepishly.
We might as well still be living in the age when Europeans labeled Africa "The Dark Continent", simply because they had not explored it, though that reference alluded to the complexion of many of its people's as well.
My next assignment is to have the students research national demographics of the countries; language, ethnicity, form of government, health, economics, industry, gender...a host of data. They are then asked to do a media survey of news articles and see what they come up with. You probably know the answer to that: not much, other than those that deal with disaster or negatives.
There is something very wrong about what is currently being taught in many high schools and in the lower levels. My home state of NY is hardly the most ethnocentric of states, and has a diverse ethnic population profile. Yet many students are entering University as geographic tabula rasas.
As a kid, my parents bought me a globe. I had a playschool wooden map puzzle of the world, and one of the United States. I learned where things were, and then about the peoples in those places. I did have tests in school in "geography" but my parents augmented that which was ignored (Africa in particular). I remember their outrage when I got an F from a 5th grade teacher who faulted me for my claim that Egypt was in Africa. They immeadiately went up to school to see the teacher and the principal.
I concur with this statement from the piece:
President Obama would do well to challenge Americans to become more informed about the world—the opportunities as well as the dangers. And he should encourage Americans to look for ways to be better informed and more engaged citizens—of their own country and of the world.
Even as the number of foreign-based, American reporters has fallen from 188 to 141 between 2002 and 2007, and major papers such as the Chicago Tribune are now closing many of their foreign posts, Americans can still remain in touch with the world.
So, how many counties can you identify on this map?
You can try this quiz too:
http://www.ilike2learn.com/...