Where in the Heck is South America?

As you all know I am a high school teacher.  I love my job....but I have to admit over the past several years I have seen education dummied down to make sure that there is definitely No Child Left Behind.  When I was in school there were groupings.  I prided myself in being in the red bird reading group because it was the top.  I did not want to ever be in a basic class....so I worked hard not to be.  I was not a brilliant kid in school, but I could hold my own.  Today....students want us to spoon feed them the answers.  With all the technology they have available to them....they don't even want to do the research.  I, on the other hand, am so very inquisitive.  I want to know why things are the way they are....so I will sit and google random things for hours just to know why. When I was in school we took Florida history, we took Geography, we took American and World History, We took English (British, American, and World Lits).  We were tracked and there were basic, regular, and advanced classes.  I turned out ok.  I graduated from high school and college with a Master's Degree.  Education did not come easy for me.  I had to dig at it.  But today....today it is sad.  Kids don't know geography....and a prime example of this came when I asked my class where South America was.  Simple question I thought.....but I was so wrong.  One of my brightest students confidently raised her hand to answer my question.  When I called on her....the answer I got nearly put me in a coma.  "Africa" was her reply.  AFRICA!  Oh no...she did not just say that.  I looked at her sweet face to see if she was pulling my leg....but I realized she was not.  The maps in my room are small ones....so I sent down to four History classes to borrow their flip chart maps.  I was shocked.....none of them had one.  I resorted to Plan B....I have maps in my textbook so I had my students turn to the world map layout and we had a lesson in Spanish class about the continents and the countries....and their locations.....the next day we had a pop quiz on this material.  I made a decision right then and there that when my students leave Spanish I they would know the difference between a continent and a country and know where they are located.  Griefus.  I don't know where the ball has been dropped along the way....but someone needs to pick it up and score.