I can’t say without doubt that as a school girl, I did or did not learn the names of all the nations in the world. Thus, it came as more than a surprise to run across this video teaching exactly that.

OK, so right away, before the program proper even starts, it’s clear that this is for children, not “grown-ups.” What I find particularly interesting, though, is that children are apparently being expected to learn this.

Maybe part of my amazement stems from not knowing where childhood is considered to end these days. It’s not as clear cut as, say, knowing when summer is officially over and winter officially starts. If I remember correctly, my generation’s childhood cut-off happened upon entering high school. At that point (13 or so), one becomes a teenager. Goodbye childhood.

Getting back to the nations of the world, though. I guess learning them is not much different than learning the capital cities of all the states in the United States. I never did learn those either, at least not to the point where I could say them all without error. Not that I didn’t think the feat was worth mastering. In fact, I was always in awe of kids who had done so. Maybe I had no incentive, didn’t consider it challenging enough (ha!) in and of itself, had no idea how and why this knowledge should be useful to me.

But this thing of knowing the nations of the world, their names and locations, well, that’s something every child should know in today’s world. Ideally, that knowledge would be accompanied by some knowledge of world cultures and global politics, which is really what we all need to understand better.

Categories: Cultural literacy, Education