It’s well known that many Americans struggle with geography, even when it comes to their own country. A woman was shocked when she discovered that Alaska isn’t an island after having a conversation with her Canadian boyfriend.
Sabriena Abrre posted a video on TikTok going on a rant about how she never realized that Alaska wasn’t actually an island. “Everybody knows that Alaska is cold,” she said. “But did I know that it was connected by land? No. I did not know that.”
She also mentioned how she didn’t know how big Alaska was just by looking at a map. For years, because of the United States’ geography curriculum, she had thought that Texas was bigger than Alaska despite Alaska being known as the largest U.S. state.
Since Alaska is one of the U.S.’s noncontiguous states, along with Hawaii, it is often shown separately in a box at the bottom of maps of the US, which could lead some people to assume it’s not actually part of the same land mass.
Abrre explained that this was one of the reasons for her confusion. “The curriculum obviously needs some help. We need a good revision — an overhaul of the entire curriculum at this point.”
Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@sabriena_abrre/video/7294333109485473067