Nicholas Kristof wrote a compelling op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times about the insularity of Americans and our inexperience traveling and living in poor countries. He tells us:

“I often hear comments from readers like: “It’s tragic over there, but we’ve got our own problems that we have to solve first.” Nobody who has held the hand of a starving African child could be that dismissive.”

Also from the piece:

“According to a Roper/National Geographic poll, 38 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 consider speaking another language to be “not too important.” Sixty-three percent of those young Americans can’t find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. And 89 percent don’t correspond regularly with anyone outside the U.S. A survey cited by the Modern Language Association found that only 9 percent of American college students enroll in a foreign language class.”

To try to increase our level of international understanding, Nicholas D. Kristoff, the New York Times and MySpace.com, are partnering to send one college student, and one middle or high school teacher, to a developing country. There, the two will blog and take video, and share their experiences with others. As Kristof puts it, he’s betting that they’ll “be able to connect with young readers and viewers — and galvanize them to care about these issues — in a way that I can’t.”

You can find the rules to apply on the New York Times site and on MySpace.com.