Benefits
 
The program promotes a positive partnership between parents, teachers and students. 

1. The information is accurate and updated each spring.
    
2. The impact on classroom time is minimal, (10 minutes twice a week).
    
3. The Passport Club involves volunteers in a way they can get excited about and learn from, instead of just asking them to correct and copy papers.
    
4. It is one of the few programs to deal only with independent nations.  This greatly reduces confusion for younger students.  For example, if a student hears about Guam or Puerto Rico on the news, they know it must be a protectorate or territory because it was not studied through The Passport Club.
    
5. Pronunciations are written on the back of study maps, and spoken on an enclosed CD.
    
6. It opens up the world of stamp collecting to a new generation. 
   Stamp collecting is extremely educational and available to all income levels.  It is something pen pals can exchange regardless of their economic and cultural background.  Also teachers are learning that postage stamps provide better incentives than candy and stickers in most cases.
    
7. The program meets many state and national benchmarks for geography study. 
   As the National  "Goals 2000" stated, "By the fourth grade, children should be able to locate the seven continents and four oceans on a world map and pick out several countries in South America, Europe, Africa and Asia."
    
8. After the first year, The Passport Club provides important review as well as new material each month.
    
9. It offers the school-wide "target country" concept where all classes focus on the same country for a time.  This unifies all ages around a common purpose.  For example, Centennial Elementary in Olympia studied Canada for two months.  All students learned the national anthem "Oh Canada", and attended an assembly with Helen Thayer, first woman to walk to the Magnetic North Pole.  During this time, the Canadian flag flew next to the American flag. 
    
10. Unlike computer programs, The Passport Club involves social interaction.  At the end of each month, students communicate what they have learned to a parent volunteer.  During the month, a student would practice with another student doing the same level.  The program also provides an opportunity for older student "buddies" to help younger students study the countries.
     
11. The program is affordable. Unlike textbooks, students get to take home their passports at the end of the year.
     
12. The Passport Club has stood the test of time.  For the past thirteen years, most schools who began the program continue to use it today.
     
13. In a rapidly changing world, The Passport Club is a simple but effective way to achieve geographic literacy for students and educators alike.  It is an important first step toward global understanding.  Since first you must find a place before you can explore it, The Passport Club makes the finding part fun, and then suggests avenues of exploration.