We live in WA not DC

The year is 2009 and we live in the information age. Have you met anyone recently who didn't know simple United States geography? Sometimes where we live in Washington, people don't know much about the eastern side of the state. Washington is separated by the Cascade Mountains, and there are a log of people who live on the west side who have never been across the mountains to the eastern side of the state. It is an entirely different area, both in terms of land use and topography, and weather. So, there might be an excuse for those in the Seattle-Tacoma coridor not knowing where every town is in Eastern Washington. However, what we experienced at the car rental counter in Detroit, Michigan, really shocked us.

During our check in to get the rental car, the woman at the counter took our information and since we were checked in through the web, she went over to the self serve kiosk and started to input information over the counter. I went over to help her, and she was having problems putting the state in the form. She put in DC. I told her we were from Washington State, and she said, “Yes, that is DC.” I said, “No, we're from the state of Washington.” She said, “Yes, that is the area around DC.” I said, “No, we're from the state of Washington. It is a long way from there. The state is WA, not DC.” She looked at me with this puzzled look on her face and said, “Really?” She acted like I was kidding her. I told her that I was sure and she watched as I put in WA in the state spot. It took it and she looked at me again and said, “No one ever told me that before.”

At another time and place, I might have burst out laughing, but this was not funny, not at all. The woman, who looked about 30 -35 years old, didn't know there was a state in the union named Washington. How sad is that? Then I surmised that she must have been a product of public education. Can there be a future for an America who produces high school graduates who are as uneducated as this?