European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 6, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes monday april 6.1087 James j. Kilpatrick let s hear it for geography awareness week9 lets hear it of Bill Bradley the senior senator from new Jersey the Hooray is nol for his prospective candidacy for the while House though the democrats could t do much better. Neither ii fits a cheer for his uncommon Good sense in matters of taxation. Lei s hear it for his Resolution to declare Geog Raphy awareness  that s right. The Long tall gentleman from Dunville wants to set aside the week of nov. 15-21 to direct National attention toward inc revival of a subject that has All but disappeared from most of our Public schools. He came to the floor of inc Senate recently loaded with depressing news. He cited by Way of example a Survey Lakin in Jan uary of 5,000 High school seniors in eight major cities. Brace yourself. Twenty five percent of the students tested in Dallas could not identify the country that Borders the United states on the South. In Boston 39 percent of the students could not name the six new England Stales. Brace yourself again. In Baltimore 45 percent of those tested could not respond correctly to this instruction on the attached map Shade in the area where the United Stales is  nearly half of the Stu dents in Hartford could not name even three countries in Africa. Forty percent of those in Kansas City could not name three countries in South America. Bradley had another Survey this one taken by the University of North Carolina in 1984. This was a sur vey not of High school seniors but of College students. Fewer than half of them when asked to identify the two largest slates could name Alaska and Texas. Al most so percent could t think of the two smallest Stales. The senator had even gloomier tidings to re port. He cited iwo surveys by the new York times one taken in 1950, the other in 1984. Thirty seven years ago 84 percent of the College students knew thai Manila was the capital of the Philippines. In 1984, Only 27 percent responded correctly. Almost 70 per cent of these students could not name even one coun try in Africa Between the Sahara and South Africa. The situation grows worse not better. Said Bradley this news is not Only shocking it is frightening. We depend on a Well informed populace to maintain the democratic ideals which have made our country great. When 95 percent of some of our brightest College students cannot locale Vietnam on a world map we must sound the alarm. We cannot expect to be a world Leader if our populace does t even know who the rest of the world is amen to All that and again amen. Fifty or 60 years ago when some of us were ploughing through the pub Lic schools we got great chunks of geography. We had whole books on the subject fascinating books filled with pictures of exotic lands. We Learned about the Tigris and the euphrates about Rice in China and cof fee in Brazil and windmills in the Netherlands. We coloured maps. For some reason France was always Blue. The first time i flew to Paris and looked out Trie window i confidently expected to Sec an azure land scape below. It was mostly Green which was the color for  1 recall we concentrated at one Point on North America. This must have been about the fifth Grade. The textbook offered mexicans in scrapes and sombre Ros eskimos in fur hats beside improbable igloos. We had to memorize the state capitals and some of these were Tough. Remembering the capitals of Washington Kentucky find North Dakota was t easy. Geography was a wonderful subject t Don t know that we Ever got deeply into economic geography but we Learned a Good Deal about people and places. Some of it was trivial name a mountainous country famed for Yodel ing. Some of it made an Impact Why is the Mississippi Muddy and what docs this Tell us of soil erosion Bradley is right when he warns that the decline of geography in our schools will have serious consequences in years to come. The Globe dwindles. The planet shrinks. I was 6 years old when Lindbergh flew to Franco it seemed an unbelievable adventure. Now the unbelievable becomes routine. Satellites and super sonic planes have turned strangers into neighbors. Our children and grandchildren ought to get to know them belter. Awareness week May get no More attention than most of the special weeks beloved of Congress bul if Bradley s Resolution prompts even a few slates into restoring geography to its old Eminence the Effort will be worthwhile what Are the principal crops of Mexico if our kids Don t know they ought to find  the fouoww6program has sexual George f. Will politicians have Sovereign right to parochialism the record of american rhetoric has been enriched by Robert Byrd of West Virginia Senate major Ity Leader potholes know no  thai insight was a highlight of the Senate debate about president Rea Gan s veto of the Highway and mass transit Bill a de Bate made especially memorable by this fact Chic Hochl was heard from. Hecht the Nevada Republican is in Only his fifth year in inc institution that Calls itself the world s great est deliberative body. But being a Quick study he clearly has mastered the categorical imperative of his Craft "1 cannot cast a Vole against my  Byrd s pothole theory of history enshrines the pre tense that supporters of the Highway Bill were martyrs to their tender consciences pulled High above partisanship by inc tug of Devotion to the National interest. He is half right the argument was not about partisanship. Rather it was about parochialism with an easy conscience. Hochl s name is not a household word bul he has rendered the service of staling with childlike ingenue Rusness the principle by which deficits inflation weakened National Security and deepened Public cynicism arc produced. That is congressmen and senators have a Sovereign right to be parochial. There Are two grounds Lor this belief one is Elemen Tal a politician has a property right in his Job and no argument is ethically valid if it purports to Demon Strati a conclusion or imposes a duly that would in crease Job insecurity. The other rationalization has the Patina of political science. It is that the National inter est is just is by definition the sum of local inter ests. The Public is served by whatever results from a maelstrom of self aggrandizement. The Senate s new Nureyev the nimble Pirouette no vote switching Terry Sanford . Had to be told by his party what his convictions were to be. It is appropriate that the most conspicuous vote was cast by Sanford one of the freshmen whose election gave the democrats what they will come to regret control of the Senate and thus full responsibility for Congress. This Congress has now passed Over presiden tial vetoes the two Bills that were . I and . 2, the water and Highway Bills respectively. Both were budget busters. Both were passed against inc musical background of loud lamentations from Congress about the impossibility of meeting the Gramm Rudman deficit reduction targets that were enacted into Law the targets arc the Law son just 16 months ago. Both Bills were passed by lopsided majorities for the same reason the Money was spread like Margarine evenly around the cont incl. The Highway Bill passed the House 407-17, a 390-Votc majority. Only 17 senators voted against it which Means that of a possible s35 Voles Only 34 were cast against it. Once the Money in such a Public works Bill is smeared around enough id make the Bill seem virtually veto proof the egregious pork is stuffed in. Both the water and Highway Bills were rationalized As indispensable to the nation s welfare. The debate on the Highway Bill featured the usual elastic numbers pass the Bill or 800,000 jobs will be lost and economic growth will come to a screeching Hall. So supporters of the Bill were saying having no Bill would mean National calamity bul we Are too Busy to take another week and do it right. The 13 Senate republicans who joined the democrats in this vote were Cochran of Mississippi Bond and Danforth of Missouri d Amato of new York Duran Burger of Minnesota Hochl of Nevada Heinz and Specter of Pennsylvania Mcconnell of Kentucky Pressler of South Dakota Symms of Idaho week or of Connecticut Wilson of California. When next they run for re election six of them next year Danforth Durnberger Hetchl Heinz Wicker Wilson arguing that they stand Between the Republic and fiscal ruin at the hands of big spending democrats try not to laugh. Democrats relish fighting Reagan vetoes so he should oblige by vowing to veto any change of the Grumm Rudman deficit reduction targets. If it is Grid lock it icy want let it begin Here. In just three creative months in Complete control of Congress the democrats by decisive action and the forceful leadership of inc new House speaker Jim Wright have established the themes that will Cany them into the 1988 election they favor slashing de sense and raising taxes and relaxing Gramm Rudman requirements in order to unleash the sort of spending exemplified by the Highway Bill. The Day the House voted to override the veto was the Day some major Banks made headlines by raising interest Rales. The two events probably were not connected other perhaps than in the Public mind