That would be Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. That’s when they invented canning (which was actually bottling when they did it) and then Pasteurization which was necessary to prevent mold growing in the bottles. For the American Civil War we invented refrigeration cars, better than preserved food, if only because it lead to central air which makes life in Tucson survivable. Just because I know why students forget 90% of the history they’re taught 5 minutes after the test doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of the subject.
I’m not saying don’t teach it to them, there’s good stuff to be learned. I’m saying don’t be shocked when it falls out of their head the second they don’t need it for class. The problem is most of that stuff is data without direct impact. And the human brain cares about impact, it’s a survival oriented organ, pure data that it doesn’t retrieve regularly gets de-prioritized and forgotten. I learned how to tie a tie 3 times and sitting here right now I don’t know how, because I don’t need to. Each of the 3 times I learned to tie it immediately preceded the only 3 times in my life I’ve worn one, it’s useless data to me, the brain has dumped it to make room for Douglas Adams quotes... I use those.
The kids remember it forever.
/johnny