by Haley Sheriff |

Known for being the world’s most powerful nation, it could easily be assumed that American citizens are up to par with such a status. But according to the results found in a recent National Geographic survey conducted in 2006 with young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, it is a wonder Americans can even navigate in their own backyards. Despite having troops in the Middle East since 2001 for the war on terror, 63 percent are unable to locate Saudi Arabia or Iraq on a map, whereas 75 percent can find neither Israel nor Iran. A whopping 88 percent are clueless of Afghanistan’s location and regardless of nuclear tensions with North Korea, 70 percent do not know its whereabouts. Though all of these nations are still headlining today’s news, Americans students fail to grasp the importance of taking note of events outside the 50 states.
“Everything the U.S. does affects everyone else in the world, and vice versa. For instance, when oil prices rise here, our economy goes down due to the lack of money people have from the demand of gas, which then destabilizes the world economy,” senior Derrick Eggleston said. “When the U.S. doesn’t have enough money circulating, other countries will lack currency to circulate as well. All of the major world powers are intertwined.”
Students should be informed not for information’s sake, but for their own survival, seeing as they are the future of this country’s well being. From studying foreign languages or history to just keeping updated with news on the television or Internet, every effort should be taken to learn and interact with different cultures.
“It’s better to know about the world around you so that you can infer the actions and stances your own country would take against international issues,” junior Bethany Nelson said. “Like with Libya, you could decide whether or not the U.S. would take military action in such a situation.”
Most students believe the reasoning behind their lack of knowledge of the international community is due to an equal lack of caring. Being teenagers, they are preoccupied with numerous tasks, from classes to extracurricular activities to a social life, and simply do not have the time in their schedules.
“I find this idea of teenagers being apathetic to be incorrect, because really the more we hear it the more we become adjusted to the idea,” social studies teacher Mike Hammer said. “I don’t think they’re as apathetic as they think they are. It’s like with politicians and the media—you only see the radical sides of the spectrum and never really the people in the middle. So like teenagers, in calling themselves apathetic, it is only counter-productive.”
As with the American healthcare and educational systems, our youth’s fluency with the world is inferior to the likes of European nations. Having always been compacted between multiple cultures and languages, this serves as an advantage for them as players in the global market.
“Foreigners are considerably more informed [than Americans],” sophomore Ruby Dumrauf said. “I hosted a German exchange student one year, and they knew more about what was going on [in the world] as well as in the United States. But it’s normal for them, and then [when compared to Americans] it only proves the stereotype of our stupidity.”
Americans have indeed developed a reputation for ignorance, but there is still much debate of whether or not this situation is a matter of intelligence or plain common sense.
“It’s not a matter of intelligence, but being informed; being aware is more related to wisdom. Those interested in global issues show curiosity, a desire for something beyond themselves. This desire to know more is an emotional concept which enhances the ability to see and understand how people feel and think in certain situations,” Hammer said. “But that’s it. Everything is a world issue. We cannot live in isolation anymore.”