These Kids Are on Top of the World

Which island lies just east of Java? What does the K in K2 stand for? Which national capital is on a strait connecting the Kattegat with the Baltic Sea? What is the only land-locked country on the Indochinese peninsula?

We may be scratching our heads, but these and similar questions were a snap for the young finalists in the National Geography Bee this past week. Alex Kerchner, 12, of Kirkland, Wash., won over Steve Sreckovic of South Milwaukee, Wis., in a match in which the two simultaneously wrote answers to questions. Alex correctly identified Singapore as the most densely populated country in Asia. Steve said it was Hong Kong-- a territory, not a nation.

This was the ninth year for the bee, launched by the National Geographic Society after international test results disclosed the woeful state of American youngsters’ knowledge of the world. One in seven Americans could not identify the United States on an unmarked map. One in four couldn’t find the Pacific Ocean. These days, test scores are improving, and programs such as the geography bee obviously are part of the reason.

Oh, yes, the answers to the questions above: Bali, Karakoram, Copenhagen and Laos. Now, can you name the desert country that lies to the south of Saudi Arabia? The answer can be found in the atlas.