Should Ex Pats teach Geography?

[sonjack2847]

31 minutes ago, Gratefuled said:

My stepson here has a huge map of the world that shows flags and information about the country.

He likes soccer and likes to point out where certain players home country is. 

If this is a way for him to learn geography, it's  a good start. Television is helping him a lot about current events and world affairs.

That Ed is a very good way to learn,associating something with a place.

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I drove the part of that highway between Fairbanks, Alaska and Edmonton, Alberta for decades.  That highway was proposed back in the '80s and is still nowhere near a reality.  That 25 miles across the Bering Strait is the biggest obstacle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing

When I read the wiki link I see that the crossing has been looked at, proposed, and dreamed of for over a century.  But all it is so far is a nice news story.  Kinda like Philippines when they come up with a plan to put bridges in here and there and they always fizzle out.

Kinda like the Pan American highway, at 30,000 km "the longest motorable road in the world' - except for that pesky 100km Darien Gap between Panama and Columbia.

[Mark Berkowitz]

OLD Thread, YES! ... but I need to update this, since my Filipina wife is now living in the USA and I wanted to show her what the world really looks like on an actual map.  I surprised her with a wall map and she was shocked to see the relatively small size of the Philippines... it really took her quite a while to find the Phils on the map.

I asked her if they ever showed any maps of the world in the Filipino schools that she attended and she said, "no, they only show us a map of the Philippines."  Hearing that (to me) was almost like hearing that the world was flat... or that if you sail west from Europe, you'll be in China (and never see/discover the 'New World').

 

[graham59]

My Mrs gave me the same response as she did for my "WHY do they throw everything they've finished with ON THE GROUND ?"

"THEY JUST DON'T CARE".

So, there's your starting point.  Good luck with it.  

(Irritates me to hell when I hear Americans saying 'Paris... France' ... like there really is another 'Paris' worth mentioning ?  )  

[Tukaram (Tim)]

That is some serious thread necro magic - but it is your thread, so no worries ha ha

My wife does not know geography and does not care.  It does not help put food on the table - so she never learned it.  She has no clue where places are, but also no  desire to learn it. That seems pretty common (except for the sailors I know). 

My favorite map sites is https://thetruesize.com  It compares one place to another. The example I showed her was that in geographic size, and population the PIs is very similar to California.  She just kind of thought the US and the PIs were about the same size... 

 

[Arizona Kid]

3 hours ago, graham59 said:

My Mrs gave me the same response as she did for my "WHY do they throw everything they've finished with ON THE GROUND ?"

"THEY JUST DON'T CARE".

So, there's your starting point.  Good luck with it.  

(Irritates me to hell when I hear Americans saying 'Paris... France' ... like there really is another 'Paris' worth mentioning ?  )  

Well..there is Paris Arizona. Spring Training for many MLB teams!

[GeoffH]

4 hours ago, graham59 said:

(Irritates me to hell when I hear Americans saying 'Paris... France' ... like there really is another 'Paris' worth mentioning ?  )  

 

Well they do have 'Paris - Tennessee', it's even got it's own Eiffel Tower 

Edited May 25, 2019 by GeoffH

[Dave Hounddriver]

5 hours ago, graham59 said:

(Irritates me to hell when I hear Americans saying 'Paris... France' ... like there really is another 'Paris' worth mentioning ?  )  

Well ya see?  That goes to show ya that expats should not teach Geography.  There are at least 23 cities named Paris in America.

Spoiler

 

Here’s the full list of all the cities in America named after Paris:

Perris, California 
(The name is close enough)
Paris, Idaho
Paris, Texas
Paris, Arkansas
Paris, Missouri
Paris, Grant County, Wisconsin
Paris, Kenosha County, Wisconsin 
(I love that Wisconsin is so hungry to be like France, that they have two Paris towns)
Paris, Illinois
Paris, Tennessee
Paris, Kentucky
New Paris, Ohio 
(thanks to all the towns that use "New" in their name. Things might have gotten REALLY confusing if you named your town Paris!)
St. Paris, Ohio 
(I know I have the internet to look this up, but was Paris a saint?)
New Paris, Indiana
Paris, Michigan
Paris Township, Michigan
Paris, Ohio
Paris, Pennsylvania
New Paris, Pennsylvania
Paris, Virginia
Paris, New York
South Paris, Maine
Paris, Maine
West Paris, Maine 
(Maine gets the french fry. THREE Paris’)

 

 

Edited May 25, 2019 by Dave Hounddriver

[graham59]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Well ya see?  That goes to show ya that expats should not teach Geography.  There are at least 23 cities named Paris in America.

Yes, I actually knew that.... but I'm afraid most of the rest of the world really doesn't care. Sorry.  

As it happens, I'm from a very OLD city in England, called YORK.... the original. 

I believe you also have a few newbie versions of that place dotted around the States too.  

[Gary D]

There's Paris Hilton as well.