MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — If you’ve opened up Google Maps or Apple Maps, you may see the words "Gulf of Mexico” replaced with "Gulf of America”. While maps are changing, educators are left wondering how this affects our kid's education.
- Following President Trump’s executive order to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" to "Gulf of America," many teachers are wondering what's next with their curriculum.
- While teacher James Richardson prepares his students for assessments, he acknowledges that adapting to the new name will take time, as teachers await potential curriculum updates from the Texas Education Agency.
- Acknowledging that changes in names are part of historical evolution, Richardson notes that these situations require educators to remain flexible and adapt their teaching on significant geographical topics.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Right here we have a map on the War with Mexico, and since it was the Mexican-American War, a lot of fighting did happen around the Gulf of Mexico,” said U.S. History teacher James Richardson
Teachers across the country, and right here at home, are wondering what their lesson plans will look like as we begin to see a name change from the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.”
“So here there’s about 16 maps and I’m pretty sure on about ten of those, they say the Gulf of Mexico,” said Mr. Richardson
For the past five years 8th grade U.S. History teacher James Richardson has had a room full of atlases, globes, and books all referencing the same name for more than 400 years.
“They have called it the Gulf of Mexico, their parents have called it the Gulf of Mexico so that transition from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America is going to take a long time to get used to just getting it to be natural in our teaching,” said Mr. Richardson.
This all comes after President Trump signed an executive order changing the name to "Gulf of America.”
Since then, the name has changed on Google and Apple Maps so far.
But according to the Texas Education Agency, the TEA would need to revise the Texas Educational Knowledge and Skills, also known as the TEKS, but they’re waiting to see what happens before making any changes.
“And right here is the waterway that we’ve had is the Gulf of Mexico,” Mr. Richardson said.
While Richardson prepares his students with this map for the STAAR test, he says it’ll be an adjustment in the coming years.
“It’s going to be very interesting at the end of this 8th grade year, after they finish STAAR testing to say okay here we go. We’re doing world Geography and It’s the Gulf of America,” he said.
But until then, teachers will continue following what’s in the curriculum.
“Mount Denali in Alaska was renamed to Mount McKinley again. So that’s another thing we have to get used to in our teaching, is just names changing, but names change and that’s what makes history so interesting,” said Mr. Richardson.
