Studies of how well college-age students know geography seem to indicate that it's a miracle students can make it from one end of campus to the other -- with or without a map.

In a 1988 Gallup Poll of 10 nations, 18- to 24-year-old Americans finished dead last in geography know-how. Only 82 percent of these Americans could find the United States on a world map, and 68 percent could locate the Pacific Ocean.

Diane Motel (senior-environmental resource management) said she is "terrible" at geography, but thinks it is an important subject that is not emphasized enough beyond elementary school.

"In elementary school, you can't always grasp everything, but later on geography isn't emphasized," Motel said. "I can't remember having any geography courses in high school."

As for University efforts to improve student geography skills, John Cahir, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, said there is no specific program, but the University offers a good opportunity for students to expand their knowledge.

"We have one of the finest geography departments in the country, and we offer many general education courses, which we encourage students to take," Cahir said. "We also offer geography majors in two colleges -- liberal arts and earth and mineral sciences."

Roger Downs, a geography professor, has been working with a group that is writing the national geography standards to be released this summer as part of the Goals 2000 program started in 1990 by former President Bush's administration.

The program aims "to set goals for the future, and to improve standards," Downs said, adding that, soon "we will be asking more from 12th-grade students than undergraduates are able to do now."

Downs said it's not that American students have been getting worse in recent years.

"In general, the standards have been low for a long period of time," he said. "Now there are more surveys that show the problem."

So far the project has yielded two sets of recommendations. One set suggests that more courses focusing solely on geography be taught in elementary and high school.

"For most people, geography as a separate subject doesn't exist at the high school level," Downs said. "Most students in this country will have geography as part of social studies in (kindergarten) through six."

The amount of time social studies classes spend on history leaves little time for geography, he said.

The second set of recommendations suggests American students be exposed to geography through courses such as math and literature. Geography would be tied in to these courses through exercises, examples and discussions.

Glenda Laws, assistant professor of geography, who was raised in Australia, said this is the way geography is taught in most of the British Commonwealth.

"When I grew up in Australia, it was always (that) they taught geography and economics," Laws said. "So those two were always so closely linked, and it would seem that to understand the economy, you had to understand geography."

Kathy Seaman (junior-microbiology) said she is knowledgeable in geography, but said part of the problem may be that American students "are not as aware of what's going on around them as people in other countries."

For American students who wonder why they should learn geography, Downs quotes a bumper sticker that reads, "You're nowhere without geography."