I'd somehow got myself roped into driving some 8th graders on an outing today, so I was up at the school first thing loading three fourteen year-olds into the car. While we were faffing about with seatbelts, the rest of the party drove off in convoy, not realising we weren't right behind. Not to worry! I knew the name of the destination, and had a map-book in the car - the kids could direct me...
Err. I guess they just haven't studied map-reading yet. They took it in turns to look blankly at the map (rather, I admit, as I sometimes do when the Man suddenly asks me for directions on an unfamiliar route). One of them ventured that she'd been there before and you, like, get somewhere then, like, take a left, then, like, take a right and it's in front of you... but we couldn't narrow down where 'somewhere' was.
In the end I pulled over and looked at the map-book myself. Once I'd flicked to the right page it turned out to be pretty straightforward.
Ah well. At least they all politely thanked me for the ride when we finally arrived.
They have all probably got GPS systems in their parents cars. I got one for Christmas and the "map reader" speaks in a quiet calm voice, warning about junctions coming up and giving you plenty of time to take action. I've never experienced that before! Map reading tensions and skills will become a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteDon't think map reading is on the curriculum here either. 'Why doesn't America join the European Union' a Year 11 asked yesterday. Hmmm.
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