With yesterday being the Fourth of July, I once again used the occasion to remind my young grandchildren of some of the things they need to know if they wish to consider themselves “informed citizens.”
Actually, me giving this lecture has become something of a family tradition. Excruciatingly tedious and self-righteous in many regards, but a tradition nonetheless. Grandpa talks, and the kids listen (or respectfully pretend to listen). I like to think that we’re all working off the premise that it’s never too early to begin an education.
Here are some of the things I’ve long insisted are important to know. Granted, the list consists solely of my own choosing, and is, therefore, wildly subjective, but the case can be made that all of it is worth knowing.
We should all know the approximate population of the earth. It’s our world. Shouldn’t we know how many people live in it? The earth’s population is approximately 7.5 billion. So if my grandkids happen to be on the playground one day, and a little girl casually says, “Hey, I wonder how many people live on the earth,” they can tell her.
Another thing kids need to know is how many countries there are. There are just a shade fewer than 200 countries in the world. The top three most populous are China (with roughly 1.38 billion), India (with 1.34 billion), and the U.S. (with 326 million). It’s estimated that India will blow by China within a decade.
The three largest…