¿Cómo se dice "vast wasteland" en español?

James Joyner of Outside the Beltway linked to a Tyler Cowen post on education. The post includes the following:

If I think of the Mexican village where I have done field work, the education sector "works" as follows. No one in the village is capable of teaching writing, reading, and arithmetic. A paid outsider is supposed to man the school, but very often that person never appears, even though he continues to be paid. Children do have enough leisure time to take in schooling, when it is available. I am told that most of the teachers are bad, when they do appear. You can get your children (somewhat) educated by leaving the village altogether, and of course some people do this. In the last ten years, satellite television suddenly has become the major educator in the village, helping the villagers learn Spanish (Nahuatl is the indigenous language), history, world affairs, some science from nature shows...

Oh, and they learn one other thing:

...and telenovela customs.

Heaven help us.

Then again, what do U.S. kids learn from Survivor and American Idol?