Learning History

I was appalled last night by the college students playing Jeopardy - these were kids who had already won their previous contest and were trying to play in the "Championship" game.  The Final Jeopardy category was Colonial America and the answer was (or, essentially, was): In a 1763 letter, these two men were described as "bringing their instruments... and able to mark a straight line of posts for ten or twelve miles."   I immediately blurted out the correct question.  I was appalled because two of the three students (and both of them female, much to my chagrin) decided that the letter must refer to Lewis and Clark.  Has our school system really failed so completely?  They couldn't remember that Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition of Exploration departed in 1804?  I honestly don't remember which colleges the two girls attended, but the young man who questioned correctly attends Duke University - maybe the girls were Yankees and didn't give a hoot about the Mason-Dixon Line. Maybe they missed the several clues in the wording of things, such as: Colonial, instruments, and straight line.  Or am I just too immersed in history, and have my head in the sand about today's education system?  I know both my cousin and I, and even her daughter (Ashley, who is 10) knew to complain when Ashley's teacher informed the school class that there weren't any trees in Kansas "because they all blew away in the Dust Bowl."  Sheesh - Heaven help preserve us from those who think they know things!
  It's snowing like mad outside.  We've had about 2 inches fall since midnight, and the weather folks said the snow would end by 9 this morning....  They were wrong.  Lovey and Nedi went out on the patio and came right back inside.  I have Destry Rides Again playing on the Western Channel; Lovey is curled up in the bed, and Nedi is watching the snow fall from the cat tree.  It's a good thing I wasn't scheduled to walk the red kids today - I stepped out onto the patio myself and had an asthma attack because the air was so cold.  We are supposed to drop to 5 degrees tonight (it's 17, now), so I will definitely walk the red kids later in the morning tomorrow.