Recent surveys showed that Americans 18-24 don’t, in huge numbers, know where California is, or Louisiana, or Iraq, or much of anything. About one-third are totally illiterate, geographically speaking; half are nearly as bad. The problem is that our educators (I mean the top people who shape the system) can find many theoretical reasons for teaching less…but few compelling reasons for teaching more.

Here is how to teach geography: every classroom has a map of the world and a map of the USA (or whatever country you live in); at least once a day every teacher, from K to 12, points to one of those maps to help explain the news, to discuss people and places mentioned in textbooks, novels, TV, etc., etc. Any pretext for pointing to those maps is a good pretext. Results: maximum gain, little pain.

Want to dumb down a country? Easy. Do not point to maps. Do not have them in the schools. Never mention maps. Instead, encourage students to think of the world as vast, vague, mushy and unknowable.

(For more on maps, see “Map Alert” on Improve-Education.org.)