The world has changed since I was in high school. I don’t know how…or when it changed but it has none the less.
My stepdaughter, who is a freshman in high school, has a shirt she wears that says “PARIS” with a bow tie to dot the “I”.
I consistently ask her, when she chooses to wear it-
“Why do you wear a shirt that says ‘parts’ on it?”
Her reply,
“IT SAYS PARIS…NOT PARTS…geez…”
Tonight I added another question-
“Do you even know what country Paris is in?”
Her reply….
“England….duh.”
Duh indeed.
Good2begone 
oh man…
Either she is wrong….or I missed the historic European City Swap Treaty in the news.
ha
Scary….no offense.
None taken. Now, I quiz her. Every time she mentions a city, I ask her to tell me the state or country that it is in….without the option of using Google.
With your guidance, she will release her inner genius.
I try. So far I am losing to her inner blonde…
Yeah. Gen Y geography … it’s something. With the 3rd one (who’s a Gen Z – now we’re the Gen XYZ family 😉 ) I got a wall sized map and started teaching her by the time she was 3.
Better for you teach them before the school system gets to them!
That 3 year old is 9 now. I don’t even want to talk about N.Y. and common core except to say I’m glad they didn’t have it while the older two were there. I already have a headache at the end of homework every day!
Parts, England! Of course, just west of Kent. Any Anglo knows this 😉 Teenagers can be unintentionally funny in the most make-you-cringe ways.
Cringing is a daily event at our house.
Great short tale. My son knew a girl at his school at – I’m guessing – about the same age as your step daughter – who thought Europe was a country. Then again there is Sarah Palin who plainly can offer the excuse of being a kid!
Yeah yeah…isn’t that awful. So sweet you’re teaching her…what ever!!! Get back to the story!
Just kidding (kind of). I’m terrible at geography (although I DO know that Paris is in Sweden…duh) and I remember that my schooling didn’t really place any emphasis on it. We had “Social Studies” and “Civics” but never geography.
I was always embarrassed that I couldn’t fill in those maps of the US and Canada that come blank and you’re supposed to name the state/province, capital and color it. Now I’m facinated by maps and could stare at them for hours.
The square states still confuse me.
Sherry
I’m still not the best at Geography but I try.
Her brother told her to look it up France in Google…
Her response- “I can’t type in French.”
Aye dios mio!!