Geography: ‘Lost in Fog’

We read with both interest and sadness the fact that one out of seven Americans can’t even find the United States on a map of the world. One out of four can’t even find the Pacific Ocean. (One hopes that the readers of The Times scored better than the rest of the nation.)

There is enough finger-pointing to go around, but I feel compelled to describe my own as a teacher in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years.

I fought hard to maintain the teaching of geography and history in the secondary schools during the 1960s, but the policy-makers (read the administration) preferred otherwise. When I protested that the textbooks were using pre-1939 geography maps, I was told to address my protests to Rand McNally, the publishers of the required textbooks. They informed me that it was too expensive to print up-to-date maps. My students lost another round.

Today we are witnessing the results of cheap, shoddy educational practices that teachers have been almost powerless to correct when these practices are determined by those who have the power to hire and fire.

Our investment in the future should be placed in our children, our young, and our educational institutions. When we fail to do that, we see the results as related in the National Geographic Society poll: ignorance, error, and stupidity.

Let’s put Americans on top of affairs, not behind the proverbial eight ball.

HERBERT B. LAMONT

West Los Angeles