October issue
During my latest weekly phone call to my daughter in Sweden, she casually mentioned that she was going to take a couple of days off work to go to Lisbon with some friends for an extended weekend. Why? “Well I have never been there,” she said. A few months ago the same group of girls took off for Barcelona. It is something that strikes me every time I go to Sweden - the young people there are really well-travelled.
I am amazed at the number of Swedish kids we bumped into in, for example, Cochin, India, that we finally made it to just a couple of years. Australian kids also seemed to be everywhere we went.
On the other hand you don't see that many North American young people around. Kids here don't seem to travel that much. One of the reasons for this is the perhaps the longer distance and higher cost of going to another country. In Europe there is Ryanair, the no-frills airline, that at times offers flights from what it calls Stockholm (Skavsta, 100 kilometers away) to London Stanstead for as little as $20. In North America discount airlines don't seem to fare very well.
Of course it is not necessary for North American kids to travel to another country. There is so much to explore on this vast continent. But I wonder how many young people do that. I once ran into a young architect here in Vancouver who had never been to Seattle, a three-hour car trip away.When I came of age in Sweden, travel was relatively expensive and crossing the Atlantic was a big deal, but all young people tried to make it to Copenhagen that gave you a glimpse of the continent.
From an educational point of view there are great benefits to visiting different countries. I was reading about a recent survey in which 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. were unable to point to their own country on a map. The location of the Pacific Ocean was a mystery to 29 percent, Japan to 58 percent, France to 65 percent and the United Kingdom to 69 percent.
"Geographic illiteracy impacts our well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from the world," says National Geographic President John Fahey.
I think one of the problems for American kids is that the world is not considered a safe place. Ironically though, the few North American kids you see in Europe, often happen to be girls. Could that be because the boys have other priorities like getting their first set of wheels? Or is this another case of girls getting ahead of boys?
I am amazed at the number of Swedish kids we bumped into in, for example, Cochin, India, that we finally made it to just a couple of years. Australian kids also seemed to be everywhere we went.
On the other hand you don't see that many North American young people around. Kids here don't seem to travel that much. One of the reasons for this is the perhaps the longer distance and higher cost of going to another country. In Europe there is Ryanair, the no-frills airline, that at times offers flights from what it calls Stockholm (Skavsta, 100 kilometers away) to London Stanstead for as little as $20. In North America discount airlines don't seem to fare very well.
Of course it is not necessary for North American kids to travel to another country. There is so much to explore on this vast continent. But I wonder how many young people do that. I once ran into a young architect here in Vancouver who had never been to Seattle, a three-hour car trip away.When I came of age in Sweden, travel was relatively expensive and crossing the Atlantic was a big deal, but all young people tried to make it to Copenhagen that gave you a glimpse of the continent.
From an educational point of view there are great benefits to visiting different countries. I was reading about a recent survey in which 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. were unable to point to their own country on a map. The location of the Pacific Ocean was a mystery to 29 percent, Japan to 58 percent, France to 65 percent and the United Kingdom to 69 percent.
"Geographic illiteracy impacts our well-being, our relationships with other nations and the environment, and isolates us from the world," says National Geographic President John Fahey.
I think one of the problems for American kids is that the world is not considered a safe place. Ironically though, the few North American kids you see in Europe, often happen to be girls. Could that be because the boys have other priorities like getting their first set of wheels? Or is this another case of girls getting ahead of boys?
posted by Nordicway at 12:25 PM
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