“Hey Dad, guess what?” It’s my son, Alex, wearing his Brazil soccer jersey. He’s been on the Internet again.

“What, Alex?”

“Did you know that France didn’t even get to the 2nd round in 2002? And they won the World Cup in 1998!”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

“And Dad, Korea almost made it to the finals and so did Turkey, but they didn’t do so good this year.”

“Really?”

Alex, at eight, knows more about soccer than anyone else I know. Read the rest »

Quick - in what continent can you find Rwanda? Given a map of the Middle East, can you point to Saudi Arabia? Sadly, according to a recent poll by National Geographic, most Americans 18-24 do not know that Sudan and Rwanda are in Africa, and 63% cannot find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map of the Middle East.

“Lack of geographical knowledge is a big hole in our educational system,” says Bob Galinsky, a former international aid worker and father of three. “And in the case of Africa, the hole is the size of the Grand Canyon. Clearly, we can do a better job in this country of teaching our kids about the world, and the first thing we need to do is to make geography fun.” Read the rest »