Agriculture

So, a few weeks ago, my class was discussing world agriculture and how it impacted early civilizations. As we were looking at a world atlas that listed agricultural items (crops, imports, exports, etc.), I asked the students to look at various countries and discuss their main agricultural items. I then asked them about the United States. What are some of the main crops that the U.S. produces? Many students raised their hands, and I called on one student in particular because he actually seemed involved in the discussion. Expecting the answer of corn or something similar, he proceeded to reply, "America grows a lot of hillbillies." Yeah, that pretty much ended the discussion. On to the next exciting world history topic!