Geography.... Without checking do you know where the following are?

I think it should be Sri Lanka. What is UAE? The world is made smaller by technology, we should have an idea of the planet, not just our country or local region. (I missed 5, but I could probably hazard fairly accurate guesses). **now that I know what UAE is, I could point near it on a map (I think)

I somehow got through grade-school and college without one single class teaching geography. I am bloody awful at it and can't point out most of the states, much less countries outside the US. I hear they are much better at it down there in Canada (sorry, couldn't resist).

I had no problem with any of them but I think that I had more geography than most in school and minoring in history helped as well.

I'm 6 for 9 here. If I had an unlabeled map in front of me, I could probably also find UAE (I remember its general size and shape, just not its exact location), and narrow Uruguay down to two (I get it and Paraguay mixed up a lot). Bali, I have forgotten... though I'm sure I knew it when I got out of high school.

I wish I could have put 1000 checks next to 'more emphasis in geography'

I am relitively good when it comes to basic geography.. but the real obscure places I have a hard time with. The general area I can usually get.. Its so sad that people don't even know where the capital of their state is! We are losing the human race

Really? For those of you who put that there should be more emphasis on geography in schools; how much more enriched would your day to day lives be if you knew where Bali was? Somehow I doubt that it would be all that relevant at all. Like our nation is falling apart or something if our children can't point out some city/state/country that has little to no affect on their daily lives. A lot of kids these days have bigger things to worry about. If I had to go to high school 6 hours a day, then work a 25+ hour a week job to support my family and make sure they can eat, I'm not gonna give a f*** where my state capital is. You're right pigeon, our nation is falling apart, but I'll tell you right now, it's sure as hell not because kids don't know their geography. I do, however, agree with most of the comments on culture, and I suppose some geography would be moderately important there, but I think the cultural lessons would be more valuable.

Geography is cool, but largely irrelevant. I think it's fun as an adult to travel and get a real feel for how things connect. Drumming it into children's heads doesn't make sense though.

Sir Lanka, eh?

Italy and Sweden are the only ones I could confidently point out on a map. I have a vague idea where some of the others are; I know Sudan is in Africa and Ecuador is in South America, and Bali is some island somewhere. What is "UAE"? United Arab Empire? I never took geography. It wasn't offered in the public schools I went to. We did study some geography in social studies classes, but not much. Yeah, emphasizing geography more in schools would probably be a good idea. P.S. It should be Sri Lanka. Which is near India, right?? ***daver: so you believe that you could find every single one of these on an unlabelled map? I'm willing to bet that very few people of any educational level would be able to do that. *** Twanger: as much as I hate to admit it (since I'm terrible at geography), I think it does matter in daily life, and will matter more and more in the years to come. For example, the person who's working their butt off just to get by might want to find out where their capital is, so they can bug some of the political dudes who work there to support programs, such as public daycare, which will make their life easier and their butt less over-worked. And that same person will likely have to do business overseas, or with a foreigner, at some point during their career. It will be an advantage to be knowledgeable about as many aspects of their client's country as possible, including its geography. But I guess none of this knowledge need be drummed into little kids' heads, it seems more appropriate material for a high school or college course.

For certain values of "where the following are". (I don't know longitude and latitude for any of them, and I might not be able to pick out Tanzania [or even Uruguay] on an unlabeled map, but I know the continent and have some idea of region.)

It's Sri Lanka, not Sir Lanka. And I've actually been to Bali. I know the regions that Uruguay and Tanzania are in but not exactly where, I do know the others. *** My day to day life really was enriched by finding out where Bali is by going there :)

First, I think it's Sri Lanka. Second, yes, U.S. school it's really surreal. As spanish, I know that most americans think that Spain it's in SouthAmerica! In the other hand, Spanish school has put traditionally exccesive emphasis on Geography and History. That's also not very good.

A couple (Bali, Sudan, UAE) I could point at a map and say "It's here or here" about two that were next to each other...
I think geography is important (not the map thing, the rest of it) but I only spent 1 year in a U.S. school (and I had no geography class then, which was strange to me since I'd had geography every year in school before then).

UAE is United Arab Emirates. You know I wasn't sure about Sri Lanka or not so I checked the flight listings and they said Sir Lanka thats why I put it... Yeah right next to India. **As for the issue about geography not being important to everyday lives... Perhaps not directly, but personally I think it's general knowledge that everyone should know (I don't mean every place in the world). If you meet someone randomly who is not from this country and you know something about their country I think it gives a better impression of you then if you ask things like "hmmm what state is that in?" (Yes I have been exposed to this several times).

I don't care for geography. Second, about twenty pedants corrected the spelling of Sri Lanka, when zero would have sufficed. Third, I have to stick up for Twanger on the geography issue. It's boring, it's fairly worthless (no matter what hypothetical situation you make up) and most Americans do not think that Spain is in South America. I do find Daver's last statement somewhat provoking, as well, though flawed. I know where about over half of the countries are on a map, yet know little of their culture, government, and way of life. My father took a semester of Russian geography in college. He learned such things as the name of every last Ural mountain. Boy, that sort of knowledge sure does come in handy sometimes. Hey, if you're on Jeopardy, you better damn well know your capitals; otherwise it's doubtful we need to brainwash any age level with this sort of information.

I knew all but two, but it was a conscious effort on my part to learn more about the countries *and their cultures* - school didn't do it for me. There needs to be more emphasis not only on geography but on the cultures of different nations. I have many international friends/pen pals - South Africa, Brazil, Australia, europe, etc. I'm constantly amazed at the ignorance of many people - when I mention something one of my pen pals has said to a third party, I get all sorts of bizarre reactions. (Brazilians must live in the rain forest, South Africans are all blacks or wealthy whites, etc.) Plus, we live in a democracy. We're supposed to let our representatives know how we wish them to vote. How can we write to say trade sanctions against India are good or bad if we have no idea where it is and why it does the things it does?? Or how about boycotts against countries?

I think that what needs more emphasis is a more global attitude. Knowing the geography of our world is part of that, but without the underlying attitude shift, geography becomes just memorizing rivers & capitals, the way poorly taught history becomes just memorizing names & dates. It's the relevance that makes something important to students and that is a matter of attitude.

easy questions! (helene, this yours? But yes, americentricism helps kids not care, so they don't pay attention, so the classes suck.

Anyone past high school should get them all...UAE gave me a little trouble. My brain wanted to translate it as "Unexplained Application Error", not "United Arab Emirates"
**It's not so much that being able to find country on a map is important. It's if you can't find it on a map, chances are you don't know much else about it either.
**elijahblue: Yes.
**Dolomite: I did not say that if you can find it on a map, you will automatically know something useful about it. Although, thinking about it, it is true to a limited degree. For example, let's say that you know that UAE is located on the Persian Gulf, on the south side of the Strait of Hormuz, bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman and across the Gulf from Iran. With no other information than that, you can make educated guesses about ethnicity, most prevalent religion, major industries, etc. Granted, it's not much and may be wrong, but it's better than saying "Unexplained Application Error? Huh?"
Some of my admittedly rather strong opinions on this subject no doubt were formed when I moved to the US and discovered the typical level of geographical knowledge here. I moved from Scotland. It's not a large country, but it's not exactly a three square mile duchy tucked away somewhere. Here are some typical comments/questions that I received upon informing someone that I was from Scotland: "What state is that in?", "I've heard of that. It's in Canada, Right?" (Or, down south, out west, etc.) "Do they have TV there?", "Do they have electricity there?" (I particularly enjoyed this question when it was a followup to the previous one, to which I'd answered "Yes") These questions were, as far as I could tell, serious. They were not posed by people yanking my chain, although I tried to believe that they were.
**hunter: Thanks for saying what I feel concisely and eloquently...I ramble.

gimme a blank map of the world and i could trace in pretty reasonable borders of all of these with the sole exception of bali; i only have a general idea of its location. i've learned 90% of my geography from playing lots of wargames

Yeah, I know where all of these are.

Daver, what you said. I agree whole heartedly. Well, maybe not the part about Scotland, since I'm from Massachusetts, USA.

Although I'm a little vague on Tanzania...

I know roughly what Italy looks like, but I don't know where any of these are. How embarrassing!

I shouldn't have checked Sir Lanka, but I do know where Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, is.

later: Thank you, Osama bin Laden, I know exactly where Tanzania is now.

I hate geography...it's always been my worst point, and i haven't had any teachers who've forced the issue, so i just never dealt with it...

what twanger said :)

I know where most of them roughly are but I couldn't pinpoint many . I am European so I could tell you Sweden etc