Senator Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) has introduced a bill that seeks to designate federal funds for the improvement of geography education, one of the nine core academic disciplines identified in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The Teaching Geography Is Fundamental Act (Senate Bill 1376) enjoys prominent bipartisan support from senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), John Warner (R-Virginia), Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), and Conrad Burns (R-Montana).
The bill is designed to improve the quality of primary- and secondary-grade geography instruction by supporting programs that connect K-12 teachers with the geographic knowledge and expertise of university faculty members. The legislation also includes provisions for new research and dissemination of model programs.
The bill's sponsors were motivated by evidence that Americans are falling behind the rest of the world on key issues of geographic literacy, and the fact that geography education is the only core academic discipline not to receive designated federal funding. According to the bill, "geographic literacy is essential to a well-prepared citizenry in the 21st Century because geographic factors assume greater importance as the world's economies, societies, and political structures grow more global in scale."
The legislation cites a 2002 National Geographic-Roper Global Geographic Literacy Survey, which polled more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. Top scorers were Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Americans came in next to last, just edging out Mexico. (
See more about the Geographic Literacy Survey.)
Complete Bill
See the entire text of Senate Bill 1376, "Teaching Geography Is Fundamental."
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