American 18-24 year-olds are just not very bright.<\/p>\n
Americans ages 18 to 24 came in next to last among nine countries in the National Geographic-Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey, which quizzed more than 3,000 young adults in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. Top scorers were young adults in Sweden, Germany, and Italy.<\/p>\n
Out of 56 questions that were asked across all countries surveyed, on average young Americans answered 23 questions correctly. Others outside the U.S., most notably young adults in Mexico, also struggled with basic geography facts. Young people in Canada and Great Britain fared almost as poorly as those in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Among young Americans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 startling knowledge gaps, the study found that<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 nearly 30 percent of those surveyed could not find the Pacific Ocean, the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest body of water;
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 more than half\u00e2\u20ac\u201d56 percent\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwere unable to locate India, home to 17 percent of people on Earth; and
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 only 19 percent could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons.
\nSeveral perhaps interrelated factors affected performance\u00e2\u20ac\u201deducational experience (including taking a geography course), international travel and language skills, a varied diet of news sources, and Internet use. Americans who reported that they accessed the Internet within the last 30 days scored 65 percent higher than those who did not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n