My name is Kristen T. and I am in the eleventh grade. I lived in Houston, Tx for 9 years, and moved to Austin in the fourth grade. I speak a little Latin, and have traveled to the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Canada and Mexico.
I will be reviewing Chapter Seven: Reckoning, of Maphead. In Chapter Seven, Jennings discussed the incredible and rare geographic intelligence found among children in the United States, and more predominantly, in the Geography Bee. With over half of the United States being geographic illiterate, Jennings highlights the marvel of the students who can answer questions on “Zimbabwean national parks, Dominican volcanoes, Italian car production statistics, [and] Swazi life expectancy”(127). These students competing in the national geography bee are chosen after a series of rounds. First, schools around the nation hold mini-bees, and the winner is given a written test. The top scorers are chosen to participate in a state competition. The winners of these then move on to the national bee. The winner of the national geography bee “wins a $25,000 college scholarship and a `lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society`”(125). Although the winnings are great and the experience itself is very educational, Jennings also discusses how the geography bee is extremely stressful and is very disappointing for the losing students. “All fifty-five of these kids have put untold hours of preparation into the event. Fifty four of them are going are going to end up bounced because they missed a question, and their going to remember that question for the rest of their lives. Isn’t it more like, well, child abuse?”(131). However, the geography bee does allow students the opportunity to work hard towards something they may have an interest in, and teaches them how to deal with disappointment even after hard work.
It is extremely important for young people to understand the cultures and lives of those around the world in order to prevent future conflict and ignorance among US citizens. The geography bee is a great way to expand student’s knowledge of the world, rather than only knowing the fifty states of America. Although participating in the geography bee was one of the scariest moments of my life, it helped me appreciate those who knew geography and opened me up to a wider spectrum of the world.
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