Geographic Literacy, sort of

We read a statistic in our 2005 health textbook the other day. It said: 54 million Americans have a mental disorder. To put that in context to convey how common this is, I asked each class how many TOTAL people live in the United States? Obviously is HAS to be MORE than 54 million but some of the more memorable answers were 400,000, 400 billion, 30 million and so on. Usually after a few ridiculous answers in each class like that, someone would say 250 million - or the more recent accurate answer of 300 million that the US reached sometime around 2006.

My students are primarily 15 year olds. Is it too much to ask that they have SOME awareness of the world in which they live? Instead most of them could tell me things like Lady Gaga's real name, talk at length about Lindsay Lohan's latest tattoo, or what Paris Hilton's new reality show is about.

Technology is great. It allows me to write this blog. It cooks my food in less than a minute using microwave technology. But it also helps to fill our youths developing minds with drivel or acts to distract them or help them escape the more worthy work of completing their algebra or English essay. I tell them that when I was in high school, I had no cable TV and I had no TV in my bedroom. There were no portable music players. People told stories, told jokes. Today those relics of just a generation ago seem to be a lost art.

It doesn't help that Hollywood starts literally 2 miles west of our school. We have undeserved ethnocentric pride, because stardom is the tail that wags the dog in our culture. I also tell my students that this one TV program started when I was in high school- Entertainment Tonight. That was the only one for years. Now "news shows" covering entertainment programs on television probably number over 30 (English speaking only), and I would guess the number of entertainment blogs runs into the thousands.

I am not sure what the answer is but at least I am more convinced than ever that a no-electronics policy in my classroom is the way to go. The last thing I need is kids checking their text messages when I am leading discussion about health matters, that believe it or not, will MATTER a lot more to them in 10 years than "waz up?" and "LMAO!" and "TTYL".