"$TEXAS"

It's that time of the semester! The sun is out, the wind is blowing, and my students have just taken the first exam.

I have a number of students who did very well on the exam. Unfortunately, I also have, as I do every semester, a number of students who did not do well on the exam. There is a relatively large map section--this is a geography class after all--that tends to separate the "A" and "B" students from the...shall we say...other students?

For World Regional Geography (the course I am discussing), students are given a list of items they are to know for the exam several weeks in advance. This particular exam covered North America, Latin America, and Europe. Therefore, items such Canada, the Amazon River, and the Alps were included as well as a handful of broad items such as the 7 continents and 4 oceans. It is the later items that are of concern here.

For those of you who have seen the SNL skit, you'll understand the following:

"And the category is...you know what? I tell you what, just write the name of a continent. Any continent, any continent and you pass. We'll accept any continent, any continent at all...Europe, or Asia, or North America, or how about South America? It's that simple, I know you can do this..."

(music plays as students take the exam)

"...Well, all you had to do was write down the name of a continent. And you wrote...Austrilica. A combination of Australia and Antarctica. Simply stunning. And you wagered...Texas with a dollar sign in front of it. I'm speechless."

I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.