In Dallas, 25% of students tested weren’t too sure where Mexico is : Where in the World Is . . . ?

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And landed, uh, somewhere.

Cal State Fullerton students on Monday couldn’t quite find the general area on the map--not the exact island, but just the area where Columbus first touched land in 1492. Only 14% of them could locate the eastern Caribbean Sea area.

Students also struggled to find the country defined by this clue: the world’s third most populous country. Only 26% of them knew it was the Soviet Union, and then correctly found it on a world map. Similarly, only 26% of the students tested could correctly identify, and then find, the United States’ leading trade partner.

No, it’s not Japan. It’s Canada. Oh, Canada. Where is that?

Scores of students good-naturedly queued up Monday to take a 21-question test given by Cal State Fullerton professor William Puzo, who made international headlines in 1984 when he revealed that only 49% of his introductory geography students could locate Japan.

On Monday, students took Puzo’s test again as part of the kickoff for the university’s observance of National Geography Awareness Week, complete with prizes for winners and small helium balloons for the contestants to release aloft.

The colorful games had a serious purpose, university officials noted. Across the nation, educators have expressed growing concern that American students at all levels are appallingly ignorant of geography.

Susan Munroe, head of the geography education program for the National Geographic Society in Washington, said Monday that geographical ignorance “is a nationwide problem from all we can tell. . . . It’s certainly not unique to your students in California.”

Congress, in a joint resolution passed in July, called for more geography awareness by U.S. students. The congressional resolution said tests have indicated that most U.S. college freshmen cannot find Vietnam on a map, despite the fact that the country was the site of the longest war in U.S. history. Congress also pointed out that 20% of American elementary-secondary educators who teach geography have taken no classes in the subject.

Cal State Fullerton’s geography department this week is trying to show more college students that there is a need for knowledge about geography.

“We want to help make people aware that we live in an interdependent world,” said Ray Young, head of Cal State’s geography department.

While the results of the department’s outdoor tests on Monday indicated some woeful lack of geographical knowledge, Puzo said the overall results are much better than average. “These kids taking the tests did it voluntarily, and so those not knowing much about geography probably didn’t take the test,” he explained, adding, “The students I tested earlier this year in my introductory geography classes did much worse.”

Therein lies a story. Rather, a sequel to a story. In 1984, Puzo attracted attention when he released test results posted by his introductory geography students. But tests of this year’s students show that knowledge of geography has declined even further.

“I found out from my tests this year that the situation is worse,” Puzo said Monday. “In this year’s tests of my introductory students, only 39% could locate Japan (as opposed to 49% three years ago). The 1987 students had lower percentages of correct scores on all geography questions except one. And that’s Capetown. In 1984-85, 26% of the student could find Capetown, and this year 29% could find it.” Puzo said he isn’t sure why that one area is better known, but that perhaps it’s because there has been more world attention on South Africa since 1984.

Iran Harder to Find?

But maybe not. Iran, for instance, is more prominent in world news this year than it was in 1984. Nonetheless, only 27% of Puzo’s 1987 geography students could find Iran on the map, compared to 50% three years ago.

In 1984, only 46% of the tested Cal State students could find Afghanistan on the map. Puzo thought that was shockingly low. But this year’s students tested even worse. Only 16% of his 1987 students could locate Afghanistan, he said.

The composite tests are taken from a series of introductory geography courses at Cal State Fullerton. Total numbers of those taking the tests this year and in previous years were not immediately available.

Puzo, a wiry man with a contagious sense of humor, finds nothing funny in the students’ decreasing knowledge of world geography. “Remedial geography shouldn’t be required at the college level,” Puzo said. “Geography should be a required course in high school. Textbooks also need improvement. Look at history books. How often do you find good maps in history books anymore?”

Munro, of the National Geographic Society in Washington, on Monday echoed Puzo’s belief that poor education at the high school and elementary levels is a major reason why college students are ignorant of geography. “Geography isn’t taught as a separate subject in many schools,” she said. “It’s lumped in with social studies.”

Munro referred to a survey made earlier this year by CBS. The broadcasting company tested 5,000 high school seniors in seven major cities. “In Dallas, 25% (of the tested students) could not identify ‘the country that borders the United States on the south,’ ” Munro said, citing some of the results.

“In Boston, 39% (of the students) couldn’t identify the six New England states. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, 63% of the students couldn’t identify all seven continents. In Kansas City, only 48% could name at least three countries in South America.”

Puzo’s 1984 test results demonstrating Cal State students’ geographical ignorance still are frequently cited by international experts. Only last week, the Tokyo Broadcasting System sent a special crew to the Cal State Fullerton campus to interview Puzo and a sampling of students. The Tokyo television broadcaster plans a TV special next month on American students’ lack of knowledge about Japan.

U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett and California Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig are among those calling for better instruction in geography within the United States.

Bennett, at an Oct. 29 congressional hearing in Washington, blamed the national decline in geographic knowledge on “education innovation.”

Bennett said that geography “is largely a field that requires a grasp of facts, and the study of facts took a beating during the cultural revolution of the ‘60s. It’s not a bad thing to know your facts and to know where things are,” he suggested.

sh ‘Nothing Less Than Appalling’

At the same hearing, former Chief Justice Warren Burger said U.S. students’ lack of knowledge about geography is “nothing less than appalling.”

Improving geography instruction is among Honig’s major goals for education reform in the state, he said Monday.

“We’ve already put geography questions in the (California Assessment Program) tests for the eighth-grade students, and we’ll soon be putting in geography questions for sixth-grade students,” Honig said. “We’re also stressing that textbooks in various subjects have to have better use of geography, such as maps showing where rivers and countries are. Geography has to be a major component of the study of history.

“But our major thrust is staff development,” he said. “We’re working to make sure that the new teachers coming into our schools are better prepared in geography.

“California is strategically situated,” Honig added. “Our world position is on the Pacific rim. If we are to assume our international responsibilities, certainly our students need to know geography very well.”

Some students taking the Cal State Fullerton geography-awareness tests on Monday said they wished more geography courses had been available in the lower grades.

“The last time I had a geography class was in grade school,” said Gary Sumner, a management-studies major from Fullerton, as he finished Puzo’s test. “There should be something in between--some course you take in high school.”

Ed Merk, a history major, shook his head after the test and said he did “very badly.” Without divulging his exact score, Merk said: “This convinces me I’ve got to take a geography class next semester.”