Geography, n.: a science that deals with the description, distribution, and interaction of the diverse physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth's surface.

According to the dictionary, geography is a member of the social sciences group -- right along with subjects like civics and world history. Why, then, is geography so deemphasized in American schools?

Yes, it's sometimes necessary to look at a map during school, but that isn't truly studying geography. High school students learn only the minimum geography they need to have a basic understanding of the world's physical makeup.

For example, most students can tell you that the Earth is round or that there are seven major continents, and they can locate those continents on a map. Many can also identify major countries or landforms on each continent.

As far as a working knowledge of geography goes, however, American high school students remain sadly ignorant.

A class of 27 South Charleston High School students, of diverse grade and academic levels, took a quick quiz that I composed. It asked students to name the capitals of various countries around the world and to match names of countries with their continents.

As a bonus question, I asked the students to list three African countries that have experienced civil war or civil strife in the last decade.

The group did best with naming capitals. Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed knew the capital of Egypt; 55 percent could name the capitals of Canada, Spain and Russia. Few, though, knew the capitals of less prominent countries, such as Argentina, Poland, South Africa and Romania.

There were five countries named in the matching section. Only 30 percent of students got two or more correct, and only one person got all five. Granted, these countries were a little trickier -- for example, Uzbekistan isn't exactly a well-known country -- but students couldn't even guess which continent they were on.

The bonus question was the least answered. Most students left it blank, though there were numerous possible answers. The most common answer was Sudan (or Darfur), and only eight out of 27 wrote that. The crisis in Darfur has been covered extensively in the media. Why, then, did so few students know to put it down?

Before giving out this quiz, I expected to find that the best-answered questions would be about those countries that had experienced full media attention while my generation has been in school. I found that that wasn't the case. Only 12 people knew that the capital of Iraq was Baghdad despite the constant barrage of news reports from Baghdad itself...where, you know, we're fighting a war.

What does this say about high school students' knowledge of geography?

Maybe geography should be offered as a social sciences course or at least be emphasized in other classes. In today's interconnected world, knowledge about other cultures is increasingly important.

It's a little bit alarming that upcoming potential diplomats, businesspeople and politicians don't know Baghdad from Bangkok.