Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge the entire population of children in the US based on one (possibly flimsy?) poll. Besides the poll results were from a poll that only sampled 300 people in only 9 lands!

You may find this bit of irony interesting, as a counterbalance to the comments under this catergory - in a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC sponsored contest (they did the original poll we spoke about, remember) kids from the US have been chosen as the world leaders in geography, based on yearly competitions between finalist from 18 countries. Kids from the US have won four years out of the last 10!

www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATIO...index.html
************************
TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- Who says Americans are lousy at geography?

Three U.S. teenagers won the gold medal Wednesday in the National Geographic World Championship, beating teams from Germany and France to successfully defend the U.S. title in a contest held every two years.

The teenagers beat Germany in the finals by identifying Bahrain from a series of clues about the oil-producing nation and then naming Crete as the island where oranges, grapes and olives are grown and is associated with the worship of Zeus.

It's the fourth time the United States has won the competition since it was first held in 1993.

Eighteen countries from as far away as Singapore and Nigeria sent three-student teams to the two-day tournament at Busch Gardens. The United States, Germany and France advanced to the finals after beating the other countries...

U.S. students become candidates for the team through a series of local, regional and national geography bees sponsored by National Geographic. Top finishers in the U.S. national championship are selected based on an essay.

Wednesday's questions, created by a team of National Geographic writers and teachers, were heavily based on the geography of Africa, southeast Asia and Pacific island nations. The competition specifically excluded questions about the finalists' home countries.

The students were asked to name cities marked on a map devoid of any names and locators, and find which lakes, rivers and islands were misplaced on other maps. In one round, animals including an African wildcat and a small boa constrictor were brought on stage and the competitors had to answer questions about the animals' natural habitat.