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New Mexico is a state. I would argue that the name of the territory/state should have been changed in 1912 when statehood was achieved so as to prevent incidents like these.
Too late now. How about simply educating the citizenry as to the names of the 50 states? Too radical a concept?
Aren't all school children required to memorize the fifty states and their capitols?
Someone left me a rep to point out that private schools do not have the same requirements as public schools. True enough. I was thinking of public schools when I wrote my post, which typically do have a state-required geography component in the topic that is now referred to as Social Studies.
Geography is a fascinating subject and one that I do believe receives short-shrift in the STEM-obsessed academic environment of today, and it's further neglected because Social Studies topics are not included in state-mandated student testing. Ironically, a Geographic Information System (GIS) degree opens the door to some pretty great career options that pay very well.
In any case, to me it's inexcusable that someone who has completed middle school, if not elementary school, cannot recognize that New Mexico is a state. That's very disheartening.
We need to change Mexico to Old Mexico so people know that people from New Mexico are not Mexicans
I guess it's all fun and games because the guy's white and the clerk and her supervisor are black. But I daresay NPR.org may have had a very different take on this story if the applicant was Hispanic and the clerks were white...
I think a big part of it is that so few Americans can afford to travel around their own country. I taught at a school about 7 miles from the beach, and yet most of my poverty-stricken students had never been. Additionally, they had no concept of a vacation. When I read them a book about a family taking a vacation to another state, most of my students thought the main characters were moving permanently. The book blew their minds.
Why bother learning about something you'll never experience first-hand? Seems like a cruel tease.
To the Canadians on this thread who know America so well: do poor Canadians know America, or Canada, as well as you do? I doubt it.
I think a big part of it is that so few Americans can afford to travel around their own country. I taught at a school about 7 miles from the beach, and yet most of my poverty-stricken students had never been. Additionally, they had no concept of a vacation. When I read them a book about a family taking a vacation to another state, most of my students thought the main characters were moving permanently. The book blew their minds.
Why bother learning about something you'll never experience first-hand? Seems like a cruel tease.
To the Canadians on this thread who know America so well: do poor Canadians know America, or Canada, as well as you do? I doubt it.
The short answer is generally yes.
Canadians are very aware of the US... as one wag once said, when the US sneezes, Canada catches a cold. We may not know each States capital, but certainly can generally place which State is in which part of the country. When ever I say I am from Alberta, a place that is as large as Texas, I always say just north of Montana. It surprises me how many people have no idea where Montana is, and generally, they are not impoverished citizens.
A few years ago we stopped for a burger in yuma az and the person behind the counter upon hearing our accent asked where we were from, we replied scotland and she asked how long did it take us to drive to yuma from scotland!.Another one was when we were in memphis tn for xmas and the desk clerk asked us if we celebrate xmas day in scotland on the same day as them i.e.25th dec.Priceless.
A few years ago we stopped for a burger in yuma az and the person behind the counter upon hearing our accent asked where we were from, we replied scotland and she asked how long did it take us to drive to yuma from scotland!.Another one was when we were in memphis tn for xmas and the desk clerk asked us if we celebrate xmas day in scotland on the same day as them i.e.25th dec.Priceless.
I think people in Australia do celebrate Christmas on June 25th though and at what point on your drive over did you have to switch over to the right lane from the left lane you started out on?
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