By advanced history teacher - 27/04/2015 04:58 - United States - Phoenix

Today, I asked my class to name some West African countries. Several of them thought Ebola was a country. I teach an AP history class. FML
I agree, your life sucks 37 341
You deserved it 4 119

Same thing different taste

Top comments

nityasomaiya 46

I'm wondering what they thought the disease was....

Comments

I think the students are in more need of the prayers

shannon.elizabeth 13

they were probably ******* with her. its what AP kids do

When students are in AP classes, I believe it's kind of expected that they know certain things. It's not up to schools to teach kids everything. Probably why they always make them do current events projects, to get them familiar with looking at newspapers and media.

And I thought I was stupid (x no wait, I am.

Im thinking they know that, and they're joking around since Ebola originated in West Africa.

Redoxx_fml 22

It sickens me how little they know

OP needs to step up his teaching and find ways to get through with these kids. If all of them knew the right answer, he wouldn't need to be teaching them, right? My point is this reflects far more on the teacher(s) than the students, since this is exactly what OP should've covered already (countries and their cultures - a quick overview) :-/

Ebola didn't originate in West Africa, it was first discovered in Zaire in the 70s, which is in Central Africa

Badkarma4u 17

Zaire was MOSTLY in central Africa but extends to the West Coat of Africa. Kinshasa Where Ali fought Foreman is definitely in Western Africa.

And Yambuku, the town where it was discovered, was definitively in the central region

From my past experiences, AP classes don't have the lesson taught to you. You're expected to go home and self-teach yourself from the textbook. The teacher is really only there to add on to what he/she expects you to already know (based off of what you learned) and to basically just lecture you. You take all the notes and everything by yourself, basically.

Maybe those students will get to visit Ebola?

finalyearsofhate 22

I don't necessarily believe they need a death sentence, just some sense knocked into them.

ViviMage 38

No no! Ebolan ambassadors will visit them!

And this is why I have no faith in humanity

A long comment may not be necessary, but I always get upset when people say stuff like this. If both of your faiths in humanity can be taken away by something so menial then you didn't have much faith in humanity in the first place. Seriously. It says several classmates thought that. Several is defined as "more than two, but not many." I bet most of the students in the class knew that Ebola wasn't a country. Also, just because some kids thought Ebola was a country doesn't even mean anything. Who hasn't thought a stupid mistake like that? A good example would be any episode of Jeopardy or any game show where a contestant was owning shit and then messed up on a question so obvious.

#35, that long comment was totally necessary. I hate when people comment about them having no faith in humanity.

Badkarma4u 17

Because a few 12 year olds couldbt name west African countries? I doubt many adults could name any. How many adults can name the country that contains the Ebola river the disease was named after?

Pretty sure 12 year olds still can't take AP History

AlaskanChild 10

AP classes are usually for sophomores and higher, not 12 year olds Edit: 88 beat me to it by a long time

nityasomaiya 46

I'm wondering what they thought the disease was....

Well obviously the disease was named after the country. What else?

It is indeed named after a geographical location in Africa (the Ebola river). Not sure if that makes it much better.

Rocket___Candy 24

Maybe take your pupils and do a class trip to Ebola?

jkp1291 25