Tsk tsk. It seems that young Americans are more Americentric (self-absorbed) than we thought. A report in National Geographic shows that 63% of Americans aged 18-24 could could not correctly locate Iraq on a map of the Middle East. Other stunning facts revealed in the report:
· 70% couldn’t find Israel on a Middle Eastern map.
· 90% couldn’t spot Afghanistan on a map of Asia.
· 75% couldn’t place Indonesia.
· 74% believed English is the most commonly spoken native language in the world.
To see if you fare better, click here (the average responder got 54% right). But you're probably saying, "but Middle Eastern and Asian geography is hard" and "I bet students in loser countries did worse". But the fact of the matter is the U.S. did worse than every other country in the survey except for Mexico, and even there it only did slightly better. And (and this is the real kick in the Rand McNally's), half of those Americans surveyed couldn't even identify New York State on a U.S. map and only 2/3rd could point to the general vicinity of the northwest on a map. And you thought we just sucked at science and math.
