You would be shocked if you knew how many people today cannot read a simple map. Unbelievable.
I learned to read one as a kid, just because we went on so many family road trips. I always wanted to be the “navigator”, so I knew exactly where we were and how long until we got to the next restaurant/hotel/whatever, instead of having to sit there bored asking “are we there yet?”
I bet with GPS so popular, a lot of people never get that kind of experience anymore, unless they are in the scouts or the armed forces or something.
Back when I was in high school (and Nixon was president), we could take a geography class as an elective. And the college I went to had a whole Geography department.
Well, that elective was later eliminated from my high school, and the college closed down the entire Geography department. Probably to make room for Gender Studies, or something like that.
I've noticed that a lot of women are confused by maps. It is a scientific fact that women on average have more trouble with navigation than men do, which probably relates to the gender roles of our prehistoric ancestors. I'm not sure if female map reading is any worse than it used to me.
How about dead reckoning and knowing where the points of the compass are. A lost art
I can read a map and I can tell when the GPS is sending me in the wrong direction. In my car is a delorme map for every contiguous state and province. Also a compass.