Is that the Atlantic Ocean, or......?

[bbronston]

Originally Posted by duffer47

I have been retired from teaching for over a dozen years but I'll never forget the response I received from a parent of a student of mine. She wrote me a note telling me that I was wrong in teaching her child that there are 50 states, that there are 52. When I responded to count the stars in the American flag, she wrote back that that has nothing to do with it. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

That's funny. Of course, everyone knows there are 58 states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

Still doesn't excuse retiree-age ladies who went to school when geography WAS taught (my original post). I can understand most people not being able to identify Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc. from their shapes on a map, but not knowing the bodies of water on each side of Florida, or even being aware of where you ARE in Florida, is appalling.

Then again, Geography was always my strong suit in Trivial Pursuit. One of my high points was answering correctly that Soweto was in South Africa, while everyone else had no clue.

When I was a young boy (8-10 years old), my specialty was reciting all the state capitals.
My parents bought a 1955 edition World Book and I read the whole thing (skipped some parts) - but I think I learned more from that than from all my schooling combined. It had little line drawings of the states showing the products produced or grown there, etc.

By the time I was 12 my parents were using me as a demonstration to their friends - like parading me in front of them and asking "What are the main products made in Ohio?"
(Probably, at the time, tires and car parts).....

But, yeah, I agree - a working knowledge of the world around us is the very beginning of general understanding. Decades later I worked in sales and when people called from anywhere in the USA I was able to be "down home" with them about something they lived near or the local weather or news, etc.

I'd have to see a true test or measurement today to know if things are better or worse. There is always a tendency for older folks to lament how bad things have gotten - so I would need numbers if I was going to declare that such knowledge is passe.

[Pincho-toot]

Okay just to clear things up..

The Gulf of Mexico IS in the Atlantic Ocean. It is not separate, it is a part of it. There's a difference between the ATLANTIC, the GULF COAST and the EAST COAST.

EG: Tampa is in the Gulf Coast, Miami is in the East Coast. Both are in the Atlantic. Los Angeles is in the West Coast, it is also in the Pacific.

[craigiri]

On an informal speaking basis I'd say the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf of Mexico. How many people say they took a cruise on the Atlantic when they sail the Greek Islands?

"ther large bodies of water that form part of the Atlantic are the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Celtic Sea"

Technically it is part of the Atlantic, but so is Hudson Bay and the Mediterranean - and I think most of us would not refer to them in that manner.

[FLHfan]

The Gulf of Mexico has not been considered to be part of the Atlantic Ocean since the 1500s. Except for two or three seas in eastern Europe, all of earth's oceans and seas are a part of each other.