A student just informed me that the biggest problem the Spanish Conquistadors had to face in the New World was surviving the harsh, extremely cold winters. A lesser but still serious problem was the difficulty of growing crops in such a bad climate.
Another student wrote in his essay that if the US had invaded a country that had nothing to do with the events of 9/11, that would have been horrible. But the good thing is that this never happened.
I am now wondering if these students are mocking me or being serious.
Clarissa's Blog 
“A student just informed me that the biggest problem the Spanish Conquistadors had to face in the New World was surviving the harsh, extremely cold winters…”
Back then it was cold. But since then we’ve experienced global warming, so now it’s tropical…
In all seriousness, I think they might be badly mixing up the stories of the conquistadors with those of English colonists who froze to death in Jamestown or Plymouth and experienced trouble growing crops. That’s just a guess though, since I haven’t seen their essay, and it’s no excuse anyway to get something so wrong.
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Yes, I think he was too lazy to read the textbook or listen to my lectures, so now he is attributing the events of the British colonization of North America to the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean. 🙂 🙂
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In fairness, weren’t the Spanish at one point in the United States. I believe that is how Indians such as the Apache became associated with the horse due to arrival with the Spanish? This was supposedly in the late 1400’s to 1500’s.
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The part of the actual United States where the Apache lived also has mellow winters.
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@stille
For some people there is no such thing as mellow winters. 🙂
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I know! I live with such a person.
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Okay, I’ll bite….
What was supposed to be the subject of the essay and how did they work 9/11 in to it?
And what country?
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The topic was Las Casas’s defense of the indigenous people. I’m still not sure what 9/11 was doing there.
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I’m still not sure what 9/11 was doing there.
Simple. Since “everything changed” after 9/11, it follows that it’s appropriate to mention 9/11 in an essay on any topic.
QED
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“Simple. Since “everything changed” after 9/11, it follows that it’s appropriate to mention 9/11 in an essay on any topic.”
– I guess so. 🙂 🙂
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