I had a case of “the winner writes the books” with my sixth grade teacher back in 1971.
She taught, and our textbook agreed, that the “Battle of the Ironclads” was fought in Hampton Roads during the Civil War between the Monitor and the Merrimac.
I pointed out that the USS Merrimac and the USS Monitor were both Union ships and that the Confederates had salvaged the hull of the USS Merrimac after Union troops had set fire to her; hoping to scuttle the ship so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy. But the fire only burned down to the waterline. The Confederates claimed the ship, clad it with iron plates and renamed it the CSS Virginia.
Hence, the battle of the ironclads was fought between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia.
Mrs Carmines would have none of that. The textbook (and by extension, she) was right and I was wrong.
But I remained convinced and steadfast…
…and was sent to the Principal’s office…
…and he called my father at work…
…my father worked at Fort Monroe…
…within sight of where the “Battle of the Ironclads” took place…
…between the Monitor and the Virginia…
You see… I grew up in southeast Virginia. Home of Fort Monroe and the location of that battle.
After a brief discussion between the principal and my teacher, I was let back in class.
But nothing more was said about it…
…Until that question appeared on the test…
…And she marked my answer wrong…
…And I argued about it…
…We went through the whole rigamarole again…
She changed my grade after some more discussion.
But she remained convinced that the textbook was right.
Fast forward to present day…
There’s now a bridge that connects Norfolk and Newport News in southeast Virginia… and it’s called the “Monitor and Merrimac Bridge”.
I had something like that happen to me in 2nd Grade. We had some silly worksheet involving a native boy and a lagoon. One of the questions asked “What fish is nearest to *Shamu the Native Boy * in the picture?” The answer given by the book was “the shark.” My answer was “the swordfish.” It was marked wrong by the teacher. The next day I was at her desk with a copy of my Dad’s Biology text (he taught at the high school down the street). I plopped it down on her desk, turned to the appropriate page, and announced “The shark is **not ** a fish! Fish have bones, sharks have cartilege!” Next stop: Principal’s Office. The whole thing was presented to my parents, and my Dad responded “Well, he’s right. Sorta.” Much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth later, I was back in class. I have to give the teacher props, though. For the rest of the year, she threw stuff at me to keep me challenged. I never did another worksheet in that class after that day. I read encyclopedias instead!
If I had to guess, I’d say that’s because the US didn’t and doesn’t officially recognize the Confederacy, and therefore the ship was never anything but the Merrimac.
Yeah, but until now I had no idea the Confederacy rebuilt the ironclad for their own use. I thought they built it themselves. That seems a pretty egregious error.
Although I don’t think it’s actively wrong to talk about the Monitor and the Merrimac. Nor is it actively wrong to talk about the Monitor and the Virginia. Anyone who is stubborn enough to insist that only one of those two is correct is being a bit of a wanker, imho.
It’s like the “who was the first president of the US?” question. It’s certainly not wrong to say it was George Washington. Nor is it wrong to bring up those Articles of the Confederacy guys.
I don’t understand – you were wrong. Chondrichthyes are still icthyes. “Fish” isn’t a word that applies just to Osteichthyes.
And yes, it IS incorrect to assert that the Confederacy built or sailed Merrimac, and it IS incorrect to call the president of the congress under the Articles of Confederation “the President of the United States.” There WAS NO President of the U.S. under the Articles – hardly any executive at all, really.
I learned that later. That’s why Dad said “Sorta.” I was in 2nd Grade and I was feeling cocky that I knew the difference between “real” fish and “cartiligenous” fish.
