Last week I had a 7th grade Texas history class. They were finding the answers for the semester test review. In Texas history the curriculum covers everything from Spanish explorers, the six flags over Texas (and you thought that was just an amusement park), fight for independence, Texas as a country and then statehood, and information up to the present. Texans are proud of their history and it takes a whole year to cover it.
As they were looking for answers I had a girl ask me if one of her answers was correct. The questions asked what states bordered Texas-easy to find out this one on a map. The girl had listed New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. I told her those were correct but asked if there were any more and found the map in the book for her to look at. She then asked me if Mexico was a part of the list. When I asked her if Mexico was a country or a state she couldn't tell me. I directed her to the huge poster with license plates from every state and told her to look at it, see if she could find a plate for Mexico (I thought that she should be made to use the tools at hand and think for herself). Of course she couldn't find a license plate for Mexico but she still couldn't tell me if Mexico was a country or a state.
What are our children learning in school if our students can't tell the difference between a country or a state!
Liz
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