Missouri does not require public school students to take a geography class. Wow!This does explain a lot.
Often when I have a meeting in downtown St. Louis, someone will ask me if I'm spending the night. I live 20 miles from downtown, on the Illinois side -- I probably live closer than they do! You can see downtown St. Louis from parts of town.
I had a young woman from Missouri become irate in a junior-level college class because I referred to Africa as a 'continent.' She insisted, quite vigorously, that Africa was a country.
I also always wondered why the folks in Missouri do not get more upset about their jobs being exported to Mexico. At best, I guess they think the jobs are moving to Mexico, Missouri. On the other hand, they might think the jobs are going to the Isle of Tapioca. Who knows?
[There is an explanation:Missouri does not test for geography on their standardized tests.]
3 comments:
I always loved geography so much I can't imagine not learning it.
Then again, I got most of my knowledge of geography from my own nerdy reading of atlases and the like, not from in-class activity. Oh well.
It isn't just Missouri Jim. When I taught school in California, most of the students just thought that beyond the mountains was Desert, and then...NYC. I had a girl try to tell me that there were mountains in Indiana. Her reasoning?? ...it SNOWS there! Makes you want to scream doesn't it? Also, where are the parents in all of this!
Davids -- maps, get with salsa!
Moni -- my first year in Austin, friends in Missouri would ask if we rode horses to campus
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