Fishbowl: Sort of....

What exactly do I mean? Well let me explain. This weekend while taking a snowy break at Diamond Peak ($40 for an all day college pass isn't bad when there is 2 feet of powder!) in the upper lodge (looks sort of like a fishbowl,) I over heard the conversation between two 10-12 year olds and one of their dads. Here's how it all went down:

Son: "Dad, what is Oregon's thing? You know like California has CA..."
Dad: "OR, that is Oregon's state abbreviation." Goes back to drinking his beer.
Son's Friend: "Is there a Portland, Oregon?"
Dad: "Yes, Port-land."
Son's Friend: "See I told you. P-o-i-r-t-l-u-n-d."

What did I learn?
A. To not laugh while the people are still in the room.
B. There are serious flaws in the youth's geographic education these days. Not to mention their spelling abilities.

I clearly remember being that same age and know the abbreviations for the states and their capitals. We learned this in the 5th grade and again from the lovely cartoon, Animaniacs:
Here is the video: (note the line and where Wakko places it? Delineation of the East and West?)


And for yet another interesting bit here are the countries of the world:


Who says you can't learn anything from television?

Warner Brothers I think has to be one of the most geographic cartoon networks. Consistently they have presented geography as an element in all of their productions from Bug Bunny to Tiny Toons. Music, culture (remember Bugs and Elmer cross dressing--culture), languages, religion? If I ever become a teacher you can be sure that I will be using this kind of material to make simple and complex points!