Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-03-01
BY DIR. BENJAMIN FINE

paper Alliance, of 5000 stu
dents in "a typical colleges
across the country. The test
was prepared by DR.. Samuel
van Valkenburg, director of
the Graduate School of &C.
ography. Clark University.
Worcester, Mass. in collab-
Grafton with other leading
authorities.
= On the world geography
part Of the test. the COM
posite score of the students
was Is. Seventy-five was
considered passing; 100 would
be perfect.
An indication Of the mas
Sive ignorance Of the 5000
students was that only 4 per
cent of them could give the
approximate population of
the world (2.8 billion. The
1890 wrong answers ranged
from 10 million to 500 billion.
Two Samples
Here is how one student
listed the populations Of four
important countries:
Soviet Union 178,O0O,OOO
Communist China,
5000 5000
Great Britain 100000
Canada $4,000
Another student gave this
listing:
Soviet Union 100000
Communist China,
2,OO0,O0O,0OO
Great Britain 25,000,000
Canada 100,000,000
This same student, in an
other part Of the test, gave
the population of the United
States as 483 100000.
The qquestion that drew
the biggest blank WAS one
which asked the students to
name the six neighbors of the
Kingdom of Laos. A map was
supplied in which Laos was
identified and in which the
borders of the neighboring
countries were shown. Only
2 per cent of the students
gave the correct answers
North Wet Nam, South Wet
Nam. Cambodia, Thailand,
Burma and Communist
China.
The other 90 per cent of
the answers included entries
that were Enthusiastically wide
Of the mark. One students
list Of six was: Ireland. Iran,
Iraq, French Indo-China,
India and Egypt. Another's
was. in his own spelling,
Greenland. Labador, Bolivia,
New Guina, Pakistan and a
country called Sachakechum.
More than 10 per cent Of
the students did not even at
tempt to answer this question.
They Just left it blank.
Why AuSsies Are Few
In another question, the
students we're asked why Aus
tralia, a country as large in
area as the United States in
area, has a population of only
10 million and does not expect
much Of an increase. Here
are some typical answers
from among the SO per cent
Of the students who did not
know the correct reason
(aridity):
mot enough for the people
to do"
There is too much (sic)
land"
1T is too far away from
Europe"
1T is out of the way"
Only 9 per cent of the stu
dents could name two coun-
tries in the Middle East that
do not have a predominantly
Moslem population Qsrael
and Lebanon. Wrong an
swers ranged from India and
Egypt to China and Brazil.
And, asked to name the
French colony which in 1853
voted for-and received-in-
dependence from France,
more than so per cent of the
students answered Algeria"
This despite the almost daily
headlines that announce the
continuing rebellion by Al
gerian Moslems against
French authority. Only 3 per
cent gave the correct answer:
The republic of Guinea.
What USSR Means
Only 10 per cent of the stu
dents could name four Com
munist-ruled countries. only
IS per cent knew that U. N.
was the abbreviation for
United Nations, and only 8
per cent knew that USSR,
spelled out, in Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics more
than one-third thought 1t
meant United States of Soviet
Russia; others thought it was
United Soviet Socialist Re-
publics. United States OF So
cialist SovietS, United Soviet
States of Russia, or Union OF
Soviet Socialist Russians.
Told that London and New
York were the two most pop
ulous cities in the world. the
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