Lost in a globalized world.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Americans are used to being presented with proof that they know less than the average third-grader in Singapore, and here comes some more: A new survey by the National Geographic found that among 10 high school graduates ages 18 to 24, six can't find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. But Americans aren't dummies; they'd know more about the world if they thought it mattered. Why is it that so many think it doesn't?

The survey results are embarrassing, as usual; earlier polls by the National Geographic and others have yielded similar results. This time, nine in 10 young adults couldn't point to Afghanistan on a map of Asia. Seven in 10 couldn't find South Korea, and most could not identify the border between North and South Korea as the most heavily fortified in the world (30 percent thought it was the border between the United States and Mex- ico).

Nearly three-quarters named English as the world's most widely spoken language (it's Mandarin Chinese). Asked to estimate the population of the United States, nearly a third said between 1 billion and 2 billion (it's about 300 million). Nearly half said India is a Muslim country (it's mainly Hindu).

The good news: 94 percent could find the United States on a world map. The bad news: That still leaves 6 percent who couldn't.

Geographers say American schools have shoved geography aside in favor of a new emphasis on reading, math and other basic skills - as though knowing about the world and one's place in it isn't basic. But students shouldn't need to have geography drilled into their heads in a classroom. The real mystery is why so many Americans, in what is endlessly described as an era of globalization, absorb only a dim understanding of the shape of the world.

When American soldiers are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems as though people of an age to be fighting there would gain a good idea of where those places are, even without the benefit of a campaign to promote geographic literacy. When American jobs are flowing to India and China, it seems that young people would learn something about their competition. When a hurricane hits Louisiana, a tsunami sweeps South Asia or an earthquake shakes Pakistan, constant news coverage would seem to make it impossible for anyone to escape acquiring a rudimentary grasp of what happened and where.

Perhaps the problem isn't too little information, but too much. Media-saturated young Americans have grown adept at screening out the voices constantly clamoring for their attention. If that's the case, what's needed are skills at sorting the useful bits of information from all the rest. The world is an interesting place, and young people, especially, should be naturally curious to learn about it. Nurturing this curiosity should be all that's required - something as simple as hanging a good map of the world in the kids' bedroom is a good start.