I had a History class everyday, starting in the third grade. The only thing that bugged me was having to memorize dates. 1066, Battle of Hastings, was always a test question. I never felt that the exact dating was a worthwhile question. More important was the “why” question.
That is what Dewey did—made history irrelevant—meaningless.
To understand why events occurred and the details of the events are tremendously interesting and pertinent to oneself. Kids should love history if it is made relevant—where they learn life lessons from it....which they don’t because of Marxist revisionism. They want all ideas of Honor, Character, Virtue destroyed—so no classics—no study of the heroes of our nation and the genius of the Federalist papers.
Marxist destroy the heroes of Capitalist cultures—and revise the history so they are reviled and forgotten. So their courage, duty and wisdom isn’t copied in the future. Inspiration is needed to maintain a culture—heros are always needed which includes pride.
Teachers are screened by Bill Ayer types also—as is their thinking which is corrected along with their philosophy. Marxism kills truth and interest in history. They want to redesign people so no memory of history is allowed—no attachment to traditions.
Like Churchill said of WWI. There were so many lessons to be learned—but they weren’t, and because of that failure to learn from history we had WWII—an unnecessary war. Socialism/communism philosophy was already rampant in England by the end of WWI.
“I never felt that the exact dating was a worthwhile question. More important was the “why” question.”
Sometimes the date explains the “why”; Russia’s surrender to the Central Powers in 1917 led the US to get into the war the same year (after our president campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of war” in 1916). The Battle of Hastings occurred while Viking influence was waning; before battling William, Harry had to double-time south to meet him after defeating a Viking army at Stamford Bridge.
E. D. Hirsch, author of the influential book Cultural Literacy--What Every American Needs to Know (Boston: Houghton, 1987) once wrote that there are certain dates that every culturally literate American should know--1066, 1492, 1776, and 1939-1945.
1066--the Sunset Crater volcano erupted, causing chaos on Arizona's Coconino Plateau
1492--Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, fell to the Christians
1776--Two important books were published: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (London: Cannan, 1776) and the first volume of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: Strahan, 1776)
1939-1945--The USC Trojans won a national championship and four Rose Bowl games