Just as I was thinking about expanding this blog to cover international political news…

According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it “not at all important” to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it “very important.”

This from a very telling Washington Post Op-Ed written by Susan Jacoby, who has just come out with a new book titled “The Age of American Unreason”. Now Jacoby gets a little anti-technology for me, and I haven’t read the book so I can’t speak to the validity of her study (for example, I wonder if there are other surveys carried out on older, supposedly wiser Americans that have different results), but the statistic above still surprised me. It isn’t that Americans don’t know these things—that is old news to me—but that nearly a majority of young Americans express a belief that they don’t have to know that shocks me.

I ‘m a big fan of the power of information on the internet, and remain skeptical about Jacoby’s damnation of new digital media. I think the internet has revolutionized the ability for citizens to be more informed than ever. But, it seems, a significant proportion of those citizens don’t believe that is necessary.

Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. This blog will be expanding its coverage to international politics as well. Get your maps (Google Maps that is) ready.

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