Gulf of America or Gulf of Mexico? How Teachers Are Handling Trump's Name Change

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On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The decision has sparked controversy among world leaders and journalism organizations. Others wondered if renaming the gulf was possible. But where do educators fall on this issue?

Teachers—especially geography teachers—are not sure how they should refer to the Gulf in class as the curriculum is decided by the state, not at the federal level. And some are worried about the feelings the name change could bring up among students.

Patrick Greene, the principal of Green Central High School in North Carolina, told Education Week that some of his students had an emotional reaction to the news.

“We have a lot of Latino students in our school, and for them this doesn’t feel like it was done for nationalism—it feels like an attack on their culture,” said Greene. “For Latino students, community [members, and] educators it’s helping them navigate through something that’s happening to them, whether it was intentional or not.”

While Greene has not received guidance on whether to implement the name change in classrooms at his school, he said he’ll be instructing teachers to follow the curriculum adopted by the state.

What educators are saying online

On social media, educators had a range of reactions regarding the name change. Some were opposed to incorporating the change into their classrooms, and others weren’t willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Gulf of America.

1 / 5

My 21st year teaching, but first year teaching history. To treat myself, I bought two beautiful maps for my classroom: USA and the classic Mercator projection world map. Not cheap, and nothing I could have got from my district through supplies (urban district, alternative program). Now, I have students telling me I need to change the Gulf on both maps. I don’t really want to ‘edit’ them, but some of them are indicating they will ‘tell’ on me if I don’t.

There is no such thing as the ‘Gulf of America,’ so it hasn’t affected my teaching at all.

I’m not changing it, and admin hasn’t said anything, but I have told my students in the past that coastal nations can claim up to [a certain amount of] nautical miles from their coastlines. I am still not referring to it as the ‘Gulf of America’ though.

I use ‘180 Days of Geography’ in my morning work packets, and this past week was about tornado alley, and on the map, it was labeled ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ No one blinked or said anything about me saying ‘Gulf of Mexico’ when reviewing the map.

It's still the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for another 194 countries.

However, there were a few educators that were more receptive—or at the very least, indifferent—to the idea.

1 / 5

Did we change it to the ‘Gulf of the United States of America?’ No? So, we are renaming it after the American continents, rather than one country? Doesn’t seem too bad to me. I mean, lots of things got renamed in the last four years.

In the big scheme of things, there are far more important topics to be concerned about. Presidents [throughout] the ages have been renaming places and monuments, etc.

[My opinion is to] just teach what is in the standards of your school district. [Google’s decision] doesn't have [any relevance].

We live in a changing world. That's a lesson unto itself. Students (and teachers) need to know how to adapt.

There hasn't been any official guidance, but I've referenced this and [a few other renamed places] in brief discussions ... place names and public memory are always mediated by politics, to one degree or another (e.g. Rhodesia vs. Zimbabwe, Zaire vs. Congo, Tshwane vs. Johannesburg, etc.).

Some states push to require teachers to use the new name

Some GOP state lawmakers are taking steps to formally implement the name change in the classroom.

In Tennessee, a state senator introduced a resolution that encourages teachers to use the name Gulf of America when speaking to students, whereas a bill in Iowa would mandate educators to update classroom materials to align with Trump’s executive order. The Florida legislature will also consider a directive for schools to refer to the Gulf as the Gulf of America.

In Oklahoma, State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced that the state history standards have been updated to include the term Gulf of America.

Organizations like Google and Apple have incorporated the change by updating their maps, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has threatened Google with a lawsuit if the company does not restore the Gulf’s original name.