What I Learned Wednesday - President Who?
Join the fun, post what you learned this week, and link up below. The code for the image is located in my sidebar. All I ask is you link back to this post. Oh, and make sure you link to your post and not your blog in general, okay?Should I admit this? Maybe not, but I will anyway. I do not know all of the presidents of the United States. There, do I need to leave the country now? Well, of course I do not. I am sure there are many out there - smart, college-educated, higher-learning persons - who do not know all of the presidents either. That is not what I learned, though. What I learned was that I did not know the first four presidents in order. I thought I did.
My son, 13 years old, taught me this lesson. Stephen, Amanda, & I were watching Jeopardy, I think. I am not really sure how the conversation started, but I do think that is right. There was a question about presidents and I rattled off quite a few. I then proceeded to state that I may not know all of the presidents but I did know the first four, in order. W*R*O*N*G!
What I said: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams
The correct order: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, THEN John Quincy Adams
Stephen [13 years old] knew I was wrong. Amanda [16] asked if Edison was a president. She apparently was not taught anything about the presidents. She knew Obama and Bush.
I did redeem myself by being able to name all of the presidents during my lifetime: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.
So, what do you think about kids not learning the presidents in school? Sure, they learn about Washington and Lincoln, but what about the others? Were they so uneventful that they hardly bare mentioning? I may have learned that I did not know as much as I thought I knew, but learning that my children are going to know even less is a bit more discerning!
Want to test you knowledge of the presidents? Check out POTUS.
What have you learned this week? Grab the button from my sidebar, then add a link to your post below using MckLinky. Not sure how to link up? Leave a comment or send me an email (or both) and I will happily walk you through it.
