I don't remember most of the Spanish I learned in school, but there is one word I'll never forget. I choose not to repeat it. I learned it from my own studies, not in the classroom. It represents the best lesson I learned in college.

The class was Spanish 2-0-Something. Each of us had to give an oral presentation to our peers. My assignment was: Guatemala.

Okay... Guatemala... Guatemala...

This took place in 1992 BG (before Google). I went to the library and checked out two books. One in English. One in Spanish. They were the first two on my presentation subject I came across.

I traced the outline of the country on poster board for my backdrop, and wrote my ten minutes worth of talking points on index cards. I didn't even have to translate the ones that came directly from the Spanish book.

         - Overview
         - Geography
         - Economy
         - Population

My note cards were arranged in order of my outline, and I was ready to stand before the class and speak.

"Guatemala es un pais de Centro America..."

I droned on for a good seven minutes while my compadres doodled and nodded off to sleep. I was in the home stretch. Just one more section to get through before I earned my grade. That's when I used the word. It described a segment of the population. It's the word my reference book called people of mixed-race.

Now, imagine if a Guatemalan learning English used a copy of Huck Finn as the sole reference to describe people of the United States. That's pretty much what I had done in reverse. Mi professor interrupted to explain how it's not cool to use that word anymore. Everyone in the class was paying close attention as he told me my source was pretty out-of-date.

I. Wanted. To. Die.

I was up there throwing the equivalent of the "N" word around, because I was shamefully unprepared. My effort to put this presentation together was about the same as your office mate who forwards emails without comprehending or adding value to it, and calls themselves doing some work.

El professor knew I didn't know any better. And though you could argue that I should have, I didn't lose points on the grade for ignorance. See, my Spanish was certainly good enough to SPEAK in front of the class. What I failed at was the most important part: I didn't THINK.

• What's the copyright date on this reference?
• What might have changed since it was published?
• Who is this author I'm trusting?
• Are there better sources?

None of these questions occurred to me. But that embarrassing show is how I learned.

It's okay that I don't remember a lot of Spanish vocabulary or facts and figures from any other class. The most important skill is still with me: how to think critically and be prepared. I've never stood in front of a group of people in my work life without heeding this all-important lesson.

Of course these days, there's tons of information available to us online, which is a researcher's blessing and curse. I sometimes see the same articles repeated verbatim on multiple sites when I'm looking to learn about something. There's still plenty of room to learn lessons the hard way, even if you are thinking critically. Has something like this ever happened to you?