12469: Student preparation to study Haiti and.....

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Lawless <robert.lawless@wichita.edu>

[Note from Corbett:  I will post responses that have to do with
student preparedness to study HAITI.  But this is not a general
discussion list on American education, so I will only post
Haiti-related items.]



In my anthropology of religion course I use a lot of examples from the
Philippines and Haiti. At the end of this summer session I had this
conversation with a student: Student: "Does the Philippines have a
government?" Me: "Uhh. The Philippines is a nation. What exactly do
you
mean?" "I mean does it have a White House, Congress, buildings, stuff
like
that? Does it have cities?" "Have you ever heard of Manila?"
"No." I then
gave the student what I hope was an instructive introduction to the
Philippines; she seemed to have come to college with a mind empty of
common
knowledge. At the end of last semester I had this conversation: Student:
"Is Tahiti in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean?" Me: "The Pacific.
What do you
ask?" "Well, which ocean is on the side of California?" "The
Pacific."
"Then Florida is an island on the other side? The Atlantic?"
"Uhh. Florida
is a peninsula, not an island." "Okay. But you said Tahiti was near
Florida." "Oh. That's Haiti, not Tahiti." "Haiti. I never
heard of Haiti.
Well, Haiti's an island then." "Yes. Remember the map I drew showing
its
location." "Okay. I'll check my notes." This confusion was
probably my
fault because the map I drew for the students only showed the tip of
Florida and not its connection to mainland U.S.A.; I had assumed
(obviously
erroneously) that the students were acquainted with the geography of the
U.S.A. Having also included on the map only the east coast of Mexico,
Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the northern coasts
of
Colombia and Venezuela, and talking about the Caribbean islands, I no
doubt
left the students with the impression that all these nations are islands.
Sorry 'bout that! Do students really come to college with such empty
heads?
Yes! I'm not necessarily blaming K-12 education. It seems to me that most
of this knowledge would come from a simple awareness of the world,
watching
news on television, even reading newspapers, perhaps listening to adults
having an educated conversation. Incidentally (or not) both the students
were education majors. Has anyone had similar encounters with such gross
ignorance? Robert.