In reference to the guest column on geographic illiteracy, I agree with Ms. Denne that if a person is not taught geography in high school ”he or she is not going to learn it in college.”
As a recent college graduate, however, I would like to inform her that not all of us are as geographically ignorant as she. In the seventh grade, I was taught by a teacher who forced us to memorize all 50 states, with their capitals, as part of fulfilling the U.S. history requirement for that grade. And in high school, the instructor for my world geography class tested us on all the countries of the world, using maps of one continent at a time.
During both of these periods, it seemed to me a difficult and worthless task-all that memorization. But today I am grateful to know the difference between Arizona and Azerbaijan. I am certain there are still teachers out there attempting to stimulate young minds to grasp a subject so important-even more important with the global changes occurring almost everyday.
