THE BASICS MATTER: Where in the world is … Greenland? Gaza? Ukraine? Iran?

American students should learn geography, writes Rick Hess. Where’s Greenland? Why would anyone want to control it? “It’s impossible to talk sensibly about immigration, border enforcement, foreign policy, or tariffs absent a clear sense of physical geography.” Furthermore, “a failure to teach bedrock knowledge leaves students adrift in a world of deepfakes and misinformation.”

When he taught a world geography class, his students started class by drilling on capitals, states, nations, continents, oceans and so on as a confidence-building warm-up before discussions, debates and projects. “We’d explore how the Rio Grande, English Channel, oil deposits, or access to fresh water helped to shape history and culture,” he writes. “But this learning rested on a foundation of geographic mastery — of knowing where the Rio Grande or English Channel was and why that mattered.”

The belief that “knowing stuff just isn’t that important” has gotten worse in recent years, says Hess. Some think knowledge prevents “critical thinking.”

Good Lord.