Taiwan Is Where?

My high school students love puns. Daily I put one on the board for them to solve. Yes, they probably cause minds to stray from the topic at hand, but I find they are also educational in surprising ways--as well as responsible for getting a dictionary or thesaurus into a student's hands spontaneously. Thanks to many "punny" websites, I have a ready supply.

Today's pun (paraphrased):

When you get a blood transfusion in Taiwan, you expect to get ____ blood.

Some students got it immediately. Others needed a hint, so I suggested they go up to the map and look at Taiwan for hints.

The response (from at least two students)? "But I don't know where Taiwan is!"

What a lack of modern history is revealed by that comment, apart from lack of geography! Some did know the slogan "Made in Taiwan" but didn't connect it with all the stories about Chinese goods.

P.S. The answer is "Taipei" [Type A]--groan. So today they learned that Taiwan is off the coast of China and what its capital is. Not bad for English class.

My father would be proud. He used to drive me crazy with puns at the dinner table.

Another State Entirely

"Greenville? Isn't it in North Carolina?" So spoke a student of AP US History on the return from Greenville to Charleston last weekend.

Where will this ignorance leave America, or South Carolina, for that matter? A friend has suggested that it results from the decline of memorization in education.

So when this student reads that Charleston is competing with Greenville for industry, will she think that we're competing with North Carolina?

Those in their sixties or over (or those who have gone through the rigorous geography course at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown) can orient themselves reasonably well in the world. What will happen to the American experiment when all that's left are those who couldn't find Chicago on a map? who wonder why we have time zones and if it's earlier or later in London? can't understand why Japan would be concerned about China? Wonder if the inhabitants of Iran are Hindu? I could continue, but it's just too demoralizing.

Help!