close enough

The other day I was showing my students a story that mentioned the state Alabama. At least 3 of them shouted out something along the lines of "What the hell is Alabama?" To which one of my brightest scholars responded "It's the capital of New York!"

I'm gonna give you a moment to let that one sink in.

Okay.

I mentioned this story to my friend over drinks on Friday. She responded with this gem. She was working with a student one on one over how to read a map. She pointed out the various features, and stopped at a squiggly blue line to ask the girl what she thought that might be. Crickets. Finally my friend says, "It's a river." The girl says, "Ohhhhhhhhh." There's a few seconds of silence. My friend follows up with, "Do you know what a river is?" Silence again, and then finally, "It's like an ocean?"

Geography fail.