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National Geographic President Discusses What Americans Know
Aired November 20, 2002 - 14:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Get out your pencils, clear off your desks. It's quiz time. "National Geographic" wants to know whether you can find Iraq on a map or Afghanistan or how about the United States. We'll trust you to be honest while we tell you that among the 18-24-year-olds who took the "National Geographic" survey, only 13 percent could find Iraq. Only 17 percent could find Afghanistan. And only slightly more young Americans could find New Jersey and Saudi Arabia. Half could find New York state. And 7 in 10 knew the Pacific Ocean when he saw it. Eighty-nine percent recognized the good old US of A.
John Fahey managed to find his way to our Washington bureau to talk about this. He's president and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
First of all, why give this quiz? Why do you want to know?
JOHN FAHEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: Well, Martin, about 14 years ago, we decided to do this, just to get sort of a benchmark on a worldwide basis of geography literacy. And now we thought it made sense after the events of September 11, 2001, to just see what has happened since.
SAVIDGE: So how did you conduct this test? How did you find the students, and what were the conditions?
FAHEY: We had Roper do the survey, and they did it in the nine countries that you mentioned. And they did 300 interviews on a random basis, but in house, with all those young adults.
SAVIDGE: They were given a map. It was pointed to, and they said what is that?
FAHEY: Sort of like that. They were given a blank man map and they had to try to identify places. But it wasn't just map identification; there were also a number of current event questions as well.
SAVIDGE: The U.S., obviously, those students here, didn't do too well. Why? What do you attribute that to?
FAHEY: We can talk about what happens in the classroom in the U.S., but I'm not sure that's really it. It's a matter of what one cares about. I think it's a larger cultural issue and how culture has conditioned us. We in the U.S. are inundated with information and entertainment alternatives, and I think children are making decisions as far as what's valuable and relevant to them and what they believe might not be. Unfortunately, news about the world or understanding of the world is decided to be not so valuable.
SAVIDGE: What is lost from a child's education by not being able to say that's Iraq, that's Iran, and I know the difference?
FAHEY: I think it's hard for a lot of people to find Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan on a map. But as you pointed out, 30 percent of the young adults in the United States can't find the Pacific Ocean. I think that's a real issue. And then when it gets to the more current event things, such as not knowing that Afghanistan was the base for the Taliban and al Qaeda, as 50 percent of Americans did not know, that becomes an issue in terms of an ill-informed or uninformed public when it comes to policy debate and quite frankly the electoral right.
SAVIDGE: Absolutely.
Did you take the test, John, and can I ask how you did?
FAHEY: I did not take the test so I can't tell you how I would have done.
SAVIDGE: Take the test and get back to us sometime. We'd be interested to know.
FAHEY: OK.
SAVIDGE: John Fahey, thank you. President and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired November 20, 2002 - 14:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Get out your pencils, clear off your desks. It's quiz time. "National Geographic" wants to know whether you can find Iraq on a map or Afghanistan or how about the United States. We'll trust you to be honest while we tell you that among the 18-24-year-olds who took the "National Geographic" survey, only 13 percent could find Iraq. Only 17 percent could find Afghanistan. And only slightly more young Americans could find New Jersey and Saudi Arabia. Half could find New York state. And 7 in 10 knew the Pacific Ocean when he saw it. Eighty-nine percent recognized the good old US of A.
John Fahey managed to find his way to our Washington bureau to talk about this. He's president and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
First of all, why give this quiz? Why do you want to know?
JOHN FAHEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: Well, Martin, about 14 years ago, we decided to do this, just to get sort of a benchmark on a worldwide basis of geography literacy. And now we thought it made sense after the events of September 11, 2001, to just see what has happened since.
SAVIDGE: So how did you conduct this test? How did you find the students, and what were the conditions?
FAHEY: We had Roper do the survey, and they did it in the nine countries that you mentioned. And they did 300 interviews on a random basis, but in house, with all those young adults.
SAVIDGE: They were given a map. It was pointed to, and they said what is that?
FAHEY: Sort of like that. They were given a blank man map and they had to try to identify places. But it wasn't just map identification; there were also a number of current event questions as well.
SAVIDGE: The U.S., obviously, those students here, didn't do too well. Why? What do you attribute that to?
FAHEY: We can talk about what happens in the classroom in the U.S., but I'm not sure that's really it. It's a matter of what one cares about. I think it's a larger cultural issue and how culture has conditioned us. We in the U.S. are inundated with information and entertainment alternatives, and I think children are making decisions as far as what's valuable and relevant to them and what they believe might not be. Unfortunately, news about the world or understanding of the world is decided to be not so valuable.
SAVIDGE: What is lost from a child's education by not being able to say that's Iraq, that's Iran, and I know the difference?
FAHEY: I think it's hard for a lot of people to find Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan on a map. But as you pointed out, 30 percent of the young adults in the United States can't find the Pacific Ocean. I think that's a real issue. And then when it gets to the more current event things, such as not knowing that Afghanistan was the base for the Taliban and al Qaeda, as 50 percent of Americans did not know, that becomes an issue in terms of an ill-informed or uninformed public when it comes to policy debate and quite frankly the electoral right.
SAVIDGE: Absolutely.
Did you take the test, John, and can I ask how you did?
FAHEY: I did not take the test so I can't tell you how I would have done.
SAVIDGE: Take the test and get back to us sometime. We'd be interested to know.
FAHEY: OK.
SAVIDGE: John Fahey, thank you. President and CEO of the National Geographic Society.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Know>
