Can you believe some Americans think ALASKA is an ISLAND?

[AviatorTom]

US Map Showing Alaska Off By Itself

Apparently, some Americans think that Alaska is an island... because of the way it is shown on US maps. And that Texas is the largest state when Alaska is about twice as big as Texas... again because of the way Alaska is shown on US maps.

Here's a story about a woman who thinks that, and also that school curriculum should be changed... to teach students that Alaska is not an island...

An American woman said she was shocked to discover that Alaska isn't actually an island, calling for an 'overhaul' of the school curriculum

Of course, we should all know that Alaska is not an island and that it is connected to Canada.

What do you think of this?

[rigmarole]

Sabriena Abrre is mentally retarded. It's great that we exported her to Canada. She's now were she belongs. Too bad we can't do that with more Democrats. So many people wish to come to America, and maybe that would be possible more often if we could export more of the duds.

I knew where Alaska was and that it bordered Yukon and BC when I was in elementary school. I'd say by third grade I was well aware of it and I grew up in Florida on the opposite corner of the country. By six grade I knew all about the Iditarod. We even tracked the current race that year in school. We learned about the Inuit people. We learned about giant Kodiak bears, reindeer, polar bears, etc. We learned about the Klondike Gold Rush. We learned about the Inside Passage and more specifically about Juneau, but also covered Anchorage, Fairbannks, Prudhoe Bay, etc. By 9th grade I had to map the world by heart which included Alaska and a lot of details about it. In tenth grade American History I remember learning about the Alaska Purchase from Russia. We covered the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands as part of a WWII unit. Our history teacher even talked about the United States Army Northern Warfare Training Center. I even remember covering information like Alaska has no state income tax and the fact that Alaskans get an oil dividends in high school economics in twelfth grade. I knew quite a lot about Alaska from the Florida education system and I didn't even set foot in Alaska until I was in my 20s.

[AviatorTom]

And we all learned, thanks to Tina Fey, that in Alaska, "I can see Russia from my house"

[WindAtMyBack]

The key word here is "some". They are "some" people who do or think just about anything. I've personally never met any of the kind of people you sometimes see in videos or on TV. I think they must really go out of their way to find those people.

On the other hand, there is no real practical reason to know where Alaska is, or that it even exists. As long as they know where the grocery store is, and all the other places they personally need to go, then everything else has no real practical value.

After all, humans survived hundreds of thousands of years not knowing what's outside their hunting range - but then if they DID know, humans might have advanced much more quickly. Humans are more adaptable than other species. As geography and climate changed over the millennia, animals and plants moved. Humans followed to get their food. It was a very slow process. There might well have been a lush valley 500 miles away, but to go searching for it on foot was too high risk. But if they KNEW it was there, they could have advanced thousands of years in one year.

[Amy10223]

I’m guessing that there are people who were not taught geography or shown that on a map, or don’t know how to look at maps.
Believe it or not, I knew a teacher who once questioned where Brazil was. I think she thought it was in Africa, from what I can remember. She was much older than me so I was surprised.

Whenever I hear the word Island, I think of the time Trump said that Puerto Rico is an island, “ surrounded by water, big water”. Yup.

[Dinklex3]

I thought that as a kid because of the way it shows on a map too! I used to love leap frog and knew all 50 states. I argued with my mom that it was indeed an Island, lol. Then she showed me some other map/globe and said it only looked like that to fit and only show the US.

I was in 3rd grade though… I think when people get older they realize it in class talking about history.

[ArrowheadSW]

LOL I guess I can see why some people might think that due to the way it is represented as you show in the pic. But some people just don't have an aptitude for positional relationships or have an interest in it. Personally I've always loved looking at maps.

[NamerOfStars]

It's a logical consequence of referring to the non-Alaska-and-Hawaii states as "mainland", when Canada isn't an ocean. Note, too, that referring to them as "the lower 48" doesn't make any sense either, since while the decision to orient maps to the north was ultimately arbitrary, that's not the same as "meaningless", and they're only lower if you orient the map with WEST being up- they're not lower in terms of altitude or morality or even presence of cows.

It's ALSO a consequence of not having a globe when you were a kid. Or better yet, a pair of globes, because that lets you compare things that are far away, and see that Rome is further south than New York City, or just how far Australia is from New Zealand. If you have kids, get them two globes; it'll ALSO mean that your child is prepared, at a moment's notice, to do an emergency Dolly Parton impression.

Bear in mind that this is useful even if your child is Dolly Parton.

[chrissykerdock]

i'm going to go on a limb here alaska actually borders russia but it's bordered by a narrow river and it's only 5 miles or something short like that... as alaska is huge why they sold it to us i'll never really know... all the manufacturing all the oil... etc etc is beyond recognition... i think it was purchased for 20 million obviously before cars.

[purplepoppy]

She's wrong, the school system doesn't need to be overhauled, she should have paid more attention.

As everyone knows the Americas are shaped like a duck and alaska are the feet

[4ngelic]

a lot of americans have weird beliefs about geography. like i've had a lady ask me when i was 14 if italy & france were in mexico (or maybe it was if they were part of Canada)... like huhh? also knew a half korean guy that had someone ask him what part of north korea he was from lol

[exitseven]

If you only had the map as a reference I can see how you could get confused. It is pictured next to Hawaii which is a real island and there is no context on where it actually is. That being said, yes, the public school system is failing our kids.

[zagor]

Don't they have globes in classrooms anymore?

No, it wouldn't surprise me as it is amazing how clueless some people are.

A 23 year old girl I worked with who was born and grew up in California went to San Francisco for the weekend and while telling about it asked, is that in California?

On a group hike we were discussing hiking Mt. Whitney and one guy said, isn't that the third highest mountain in the world? Yeah, Mt. Everest is the highest in the world, Denali the highest in the country, so the highest in the state must be the third highest in the world?

Of course not everybody read maps as a hobby like I did as a kid.

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness. How embarrassing to be an American and to get this wrong. I'm not even from America and I was never taught anything about America in school. Yet I still know Alaska is not an island. It seems social media has played a part is really dumbing the younger generations

[Guido]

Everyone know that North America is a pendulum and the US is held up by Canada and we wag the tail that is Mexico. Alaska was put there on the west coast or left side of the map as a counterweight to Newfoundland on the opposite coast. For those that are directionally challenged, that is the east coast or the right side if the map.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

If Alaska was an island which it’s NOT it would be a really big island.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Honestly a small continent.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

@TheSpaceGnome That too. Nowadays people believe anything & if TikTok says it’s an island it’s an island. People believe the Easter bunny craps colored eggs.

[TheSpaceGnome]

You would figure that even if all a person ever saw was the kind of US map depicted, that the perfectly straight edge on one side, would give away it being part of a larger land mass.

But I still can't buy that a person who has the internet never saw a world map or globe...

[Static_In_The_Attic]

@TheSpaceGnome Yeah look at that perfect cut or line. We had globes in school & we even learned Pluto was a planet & how dare the The International Astronomical Union downgrade it in 2006 fuck them.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Same.
Also Pluto is still a planet in my opinion, their reasoning was they couldn't be bothered to call all those other round kyper belt objects planets. 😂

[Static_In_The_Attic]

@TheSpaceGnome It makes me sick. It’s a planet.

[slatyb]

Some of them think New Mexico is part of Mexico. Even weirder, some of them think Trump was a good President.

[Miristheiss]

Once upon a time I'd say no but there are so many ignorant people now. Some probably think that.

I've seen too many videos of people interviewing college age people and they don't even know the most basic things.

It seems there are way too many dumb and ignorant people now.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

That's a sad truth about some Americans, isn't it?

[Texaskid1]

Most of our fellow Americans can barely find their own assholes.

If they have even heard of Alaska they are Harvard graduates as far as I am concerned.

[OlderAndWiser]

You can always count on stupid to shine through!

[DryGermanGuy]

A lot of Americans have trouble with finding the United States on a world map, so… 🤷‍♂️

[NathanDavis]

many people confuse it with Greenland on the map... maybe that's why?

[BoopBoopBeep]

I think this is proof the Dept. of Ed has failed

[BoopBoopBeep]

We also had a sitting senator that worried that more troops on Guam may cause the island to capsize.

[AngryCarl2]

Actually I can because some Americans have never gone to school, or read a map. It must be embarrassing though when foreigners know more about your country than you do.

[JacobJordan]

lot of Americans think Alaska is an island. a lot of Americans think Vermont is a city.