For class of S.F. high school juniors, WWII details are elusive

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/02/BA61S87F0.DTL ^

[World_Events]

If high school juniors' answers to a World War II questionnaire were strung together, here's how history would look:

World War II took place in 19-something, when Theodore Roosevelt was president and the Germans claimed to be the best race.

Hoping to aid Third World countries, the United States joined the war to stop racism and end the dispute over Jews.

The head of the Nazis was a killer named Hitler whose evil partner, Mussolini, was president of the USSR. Ultimately, the war ended with the bombing of Iwo Jima and Hitler's suicide. Then a treaty was signed. Not every 11th-grader who answered a Chronicle questionnaire at San Francisco's Burton High School responded with such a fractured version of history. Eight of the 34 students said correctly that "Roosevelt" or "FDR" was president during most of the war, apparently remembering the subject they had studied as sophomores last spring. Most knew about the attempted genocide of the Jews, all but three recognized Hitler, and eight placed the war in the 1940s.

But others, perhaps suffering a temporary memory lapse, variously named George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon and Winston Churchill as the war's main president. Eighteen students wisely left the answer blank.

[World_Events]

I have been watching the series. After reading some of the comments on that thread, I do agree that some of the political slant on it does come through, and it is a bit disappointing.

Nonetheless the tales from each veteran is quite compelling, and Burns and company do a great job of letting the viewer understand the hell WW2 veterans went through to save the world. That kind of suffering and savagery is unimaginable to me and makes me eternally grateful for their sacrifice and bravery.

[af_vet_rr]

Have you been watching the Ken Burns special on PBS?

Yes, and unfortunately it reminds me that we are fast losing our WWII vets, which will only make the situation worse. I remember when my kids were younger, that they had WWII vets that came to the schools and talked about it. Even as recently as Schindler's List (about 15 years ago if I recall correctly), I believed they showed it in the high schools, but these days, I think the exposure is going down in the schools, even if it's picked up elsewhere.

[Theo]

It’s not the fault of either the kids or the teachers.

It’s the fault of the parents.

They, after all, delegate their responsibility to educate their children to teachers. The parents are ultimately responsible.

[ex-snook]

When my wife was in the hospital a while back one of the nurses asked me if I was in WW II. I said Yes and she asked if I was at Bunker Hill. I did wonder what was in today’s history classes but decided I was in pretty good shape for a 200 year old guy.

[BBell]

That’s good. I’ll have to forward it to people.

[Senator_Blutarski]

At least he knew the war started with Pearl Harbor.

That fact alone qualifies me for membership on the Senate Armed Forces committee.

[JamesP81]

Those are the official dates, granted. Officially, the US didn't declare war on Japan until Dec 8, 1945. But I would submit to you that we were at war with them when the first bomb dropped on Dec 7, official declaration or not.

Similarly, the war with Japan officially ended when the surrender ceremony was held on the deck of the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. However, after the use of Fat Man on Nagasaki on Aug 9, the war was for all intents and purposes over.

I can toss dates around with the very best of them. I've been studying WW2 for over 15 years and could probably name most of the important dates from memory. My point is that when the war actually started and when it officially started aren't necessarily the same.

[Vinnie]

Yes, and unfortunately it reminds me that we are fast losing our WWII vets,...

This last weekend I was at the Columbus Air Show . Featured was the likely last 'Gathering of Legends', a gathering of P-51 Mustangs and pilots.(more than 100 Mustangs, incredible)
These WWII pilots are in their 80's.

They honored 46 of the Tuskegee Airmen. Lots of wheelchairs.

[Calvin Locke]

I wonder if they know that SF was the intended target of a Japanese "dirty bomb"?

Or that the Nazis wanted to "dirty bomb" NYC?

[art_rocks]

I firmly believe that posters on FR should be required to pass some kind of test like ensuring they don’t double post. /lol

[dighton]

Never fails to crack me up.

[doorgunner69]

And just how did you become so well versed in this "gamer" vernacular?

Expiring minds want to know.........

[hinckley buzzard]

At least he knew the war started with Pearl Harbor. I wonder if anybody these days even knows that much.

possible but doubtful. To understand the extent of stupor induced by leftwing brainwashing--I heard a grown man on a local call-in show last weekend, who asserted as if it were a newly exposed crime, that the Iran-Contra scandal was Ronald Reagan's way of getting the embassy hostages released, thus securing his election in 1980. The dumb fart was dead serious, and the talk show host didn't pick up on the ignorance being spewed.

[Billthedrill]

You did say "internet generation" which led me to consider that no generation alive has had more information at their fingertips and uses it less. A Wikipedia search provides facts, but not context, and it is the duty of primary and secondary education to provide the bones of context instead of the fluff that they do.

That said, I got all the answers right except for the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed in the Paris Hilton. What do I win?

[PAR35]

You might want to add a date to your list - the Russian invasion of Poland, September 17, 1939. (Not to be confused with the Soviet invasion of Poland, February 14, 1919.

[Snoopers-868th]

Vouchers. Muslim and Mexican schools showing up all over the place. No thank you.

[lowbridge]

Hitler Gets Banned By Microsoft (From Xbox Live)

[Unknowing]

It must have been a Rosemary Clooney joke?

[L.N. Smithee]

I am a graduate of a San Francisco high school (not saying which) and I had two U.S. History teachers: Mr. H, who spoke in a mumble, wrote small on the blackboard, and was a better sleep aid than warm milk spiked with Quaaludes, and Mrs. G, who was perky, articulate, and passionate. I would have had no problem acing that test, thanks to her. She was my favorite teacher.

And for those guys in the Debra Lafave fan club, NO, Mrs. G wasn't hot. She looked a lot like Miss Grundy from the Archie comic books, or more accurately, like Edith Prickley from SCTV (as played by Andrea Martin).

BTW: The Burton High School named in the article is actually named "Philip & Sala Burton Academic High School," (HA!) and was initially named after Philip Burton, longtime Congressman and legendary California Democratic Party power broker whose machine gave us Barbara Boxer, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, and Tom Lantos, among others. When he died, his widow Sala ran for election and won in a walk. When Sala died, the Dems ran fundraising marvel Nancy Pelosi.

The rest, sadly, is history.

[L.N. Smithee]

To understand the extent of stupor induced by leftwing brainwashing--I heard a grown man on a local call-in show last weekend, who asserted as if it were a newly exposed crime, that the Iran-Contra scandal was Ronald Reagan's way of getting the embassy hostages released, thus securing his election in 1980. The dumb fart was dead serious, and the talk show host didn't pick up on the ignorance being spewed.

That's hilarious.