ESCANABA, Mich. - When Escanaba Area High School students noticed that a national textbook company had mislabeled the Upper Peninsula on a map of Michigan, they not only wrote a letter requesting that the publisher fix the mistake, but also suggesting that more information about the Upper Peninsula would make the book more appealing, according to The Escanaba Daily Press.
The students wrote to Pearson Prentice Hall, pointing out that a map showing the progress of women's suffrage in Michigan used a different color for the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and also labeled the Upper Peninsula as "IL," The Daily Press reported. The textbooks, new this year, are the Michigan edition of "United States History: Modern America."
"Our curriculum encourages kids to write persuasive essays, so it's nice they wanted to put their learning to practical use," instructor Phil Lynch told the Daily Press.
"We tried to be polite, but get our idea across so they would fix it," student Emily Buchmiller said.
SOURCE:
The Escanaba Daily Press, "U.P. loses its identity," Nov. 8, 2008
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Winter Weather Wonderland: U.P. schools face weather challenges 6 months a year," Nov. 21, 2006
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