Posted on 02/10/2008 7:20:59 AM PST by rellimpank
George Washington remains the greatest man of our age. But he was no genius.
That our children don't really know of Washington's greatness is a devastating indictment of our current schools. As little as a century ago, American children memorized the farewell address, with its stern warning against "entangling" European alliances. Why do you suppose that's now gone? Too many big words?
Washington's officers wanted to march on the capital for their back pay and install him as king. He pulled on his eyeglasses and declined. I have met a few modern politicians who might have had the decency and humility to turn down such a serious offer: George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Mo Udall. But I have trouble visualizing any of them also winning the action at Trenton, let alone Monmouth.
Monmouth receives little attention in the history books, because it was "indecisive." The Brits were withdrawing from Philadelphia to New York. Washington was determined to make his presence felt. But he arrived on the scene to find Gen. Charles Lee -- we will be kind and call the man who requested the honor of command merely incompetent and confused -- withdrawing in disarray. Witnesses report Washington halted the retreat by mere strength of personality but then sat his horse for some seconds, dumbstruck, as his men waited to see what he would do.
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
That our children don’t really know of Washington’s greatness is a devastating indictment of our current schools.
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More appropriately, it is an indictment of our parents that have allowed the anti-American liberals to take over our schools and practice their treason on our children. American history is a danger to liberal socialists. What was, is what they are not and certainly not what they stand for -— patriotism, Americanism, liberty, fighting for freedoms, all of our formative history is the “anti-Christ” to them.
Until parents finally take a stand and demand the education WE ARE PAYING FOR in our government schools, it will never happen. The liberal academic cartel continue to blame lack of monies and teachers on “the problem” when the problem lies in the protection of incompetence, and malfeasance in the schools. The NEA and all teachers’ unions should be targets of concerned partents -— and do NOT expect your local governments to do anything about it.
Good article!
The trick is to find what your child is really good at, and wants to pursue, and gear everything possible to that end. It takes guts and creativity but it’s still possible to raise good thinkers.
“Why? Phonics. How did the educrat conspiracy make literacy seem hard, in order to stretch out the schooling process for more than a decade? The “whole word” method. “Killing phonics was one of the greatest causes of illiteracy in this country,” said Theodor Geisel — Dr. Seuss — in 1981.
There were no “school projects” gluing together pictures clipped out of magazines when Washington was 11. He immediately took up geometry, trigonometry and surveying. Before he turned 18, Washington had been hired as the official surveyor for Culpepper County.”
A nice peace rellimplank, surprisingly not just another rehash of Washington the legend.
Truly, George Washington WAS and still IS the GREATEST of all our Presidents...I could not believe what I rread in a contemporary biography of him!
Yet one more reason to add to the already large pile of reasons to homeschool and to work to get vouchers for victims of the existing collectivist regime.
I met an “educated” 20-something adult the other day who thought that the “red coats” fought in the Civil War.
That is just sad.
We are going to home school next year because we feel the curriculum is inadequate, especially in the area of history (and the fact I hate that they teach toward the TAKS test here in Texas)...and this is exactly how we are going to teach them: Towards their individual strengths. Our 2nd grader is already a history fanatic and somewhat of a writer. It will take a while to see where our kindergartener's talent lies. However, we are going to gear them both towards their strengths. It was the fact my 2nd grader knew more of MLK jr and nothing of George Washington that tipped the scale this year...and we said no more.
Teaching to think critically about history is very important to us. If you can't learn from the past (as opposed to just learning a few things about the past in public school)...then there is no sense learning it at all.
Plus the whole global warming thing getting shoved down their throats isn't making me very happy either.
What kids do know is all about the lives of Malcomb X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Che.
They can tell you about the Gay revolution which began in 1969, Betty Freidan, and RFK.
Didn’t you know that Washington was a slave owner? He’s not someone who can be studies in public schools.
An eloquent article that uses the life of our greatest President to indict our education system.
And I am paying for other peoples kids to be educated. And I dont have kids. I REALLY resent that.
Why do we even need public schools.
My 8 year old knows who the red coats were...and he knows why we fought the war in the first place. He knows who won the battle of Gettysburg, he knows who made up the axis and allies powers of WWII.
You know...the more I look at society the more I realize that a lot of parents are idiots. You can't trust the schools to do your job.
Where’s this guy been? See Bill Bennett circa 1990.
Even aside from our civic duty to know the basics of our history ... it is fascinating stuff! I think this says as much about the flatness of our souls, and the lack of curiosity and a sense of wonder, than anything else.
...a surveyor -- a job which has not changed except to get substantially easier, what with hand-held computers, GPS scanners and laser range-finders ...This part, however, is in large part true:
George Washington remains the greatest man of our age. But he was no genius.
George Washington knew how to listen to those who were smarter than he, and he took their advice. While he wasn't very good at military strategy or tactics, his personal command and leadership skills were tremendous, as was his skill at propaganda to obtain support from Congress, et al. Note that the very personal initiative he showed would be the same personal initiative that a future Washington could show in bucking the system.
So while I agree that the current system discourages such leaders from rising, I don't think it's impossible.
“illiterate” is relative. Many “illiterates” of his time would be the best we have today...after so many years of well funded public schools.
“Anyone who reads can compare what the American present does in isolating children from their natural sources of education, modeling them on a niggardly last, to what the American past proved about human capabilities.”Anyone who reads can compare what the American present does in isolating children from their natural sources of education, modeling them on a niggardly last, to what the American past proved about human capabilities.
Niggardly?
Uh -— Oh....Vin’s in trouble now!!! Todays so called elites will be upset!
I have kids that will all start school soon and I totally agree. We intend to home school them. I think they need to completely do away with public education and eliminate the taxes that support them.
What if we did houses like we do schools in this country? You would all have a house payment FOREVER. You would end up in whatever house is available, not the one you like. Nothing would be built to suit any individual’s tastes or expectations of quality. You’d end up with a lot of shoddy construction and they’d all look the same and not be all that functional. Kind of like public schools.
thank God for dropouts.
Hell. I met a High School senior who thought John Wilkes Boothe shot Washington. But then again, a college student I met thought he killed JFK.
I wish I could say otherwise, but you’re wrong. Washington might have been the finest of our presidents, but the greatest was Lincoln. The man who broke the Constitution to save it certainly accomplished far more with his war than Washington did—Washington’s federal republic didn’t last a hundred years, while Lincoln’s oligarchy is now working on a hundred and fifty-plus.
Oh my, is that ever the truth!
LOL! Nah, "Tommy Lobster" was truly British.
And that is actually the way we were going to do it...starting off with ancient history first (with biblical history intertwined). We are just looking for a means of doing it. Thanks for the heads up.
I used the book mainly for curriculum suggestions, and the ones we used with our kids were terrific! When the kids get to the middle school stage, take a look at the TRISMS program. It will carry the kids all the way through high school, using the same classical model.
Writing as someone inside the crazy house of modern education, the answer is out there for everyone to see. Just do a search for “The Frankfurt School” or “Antonio Gramsci.”
In brief, here’s what you’ll find. According to the adherents of these schools of thought, Marxism never emerged in the West due to cultural and religious influences. The solution? Undermine those cultural and religious influences. Focus on the sin of the West - racism. Work to control cultural and religious institutions, including schools. You’ll see some famous American educators in the list of those interested in creating a new kind of American society based on socialist principles.
Therefore, Washington’s reputation is reduced to that of a dead white male who owned slaves. It’s a necessary step toward the creation of a better world. Sweep away the old, replace it with the new.
It’s not a surprise that most American students don’t know their own cultural history. That’s the plan. Into that empty space other ideas can be created and formed.
How to fight back is an interesting exercise in itself. First, identify and label the opposition. Second, use the opposition’s strength against them - Rush and Savage and others do it by using the media, and many of us are safely coccooned inside the education system. Third, ridicule the opposition. Nothing is more powerful than ridicule. I would actually recommend putting on the nose plugs and wading through Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” and using his ideas to undermine and sabotage the Left.
The alternative is to forget completely the greatness of men like Washington and those of his generation.
To employ lots and lots and lots of people with ironclad tenure and massive benefits packages.
Spelling was very erratic in the ages before mass-produced dictionaries and the "Blue-back Speller." The Lewis and Clark journals are full of hysterical orthography: sometimes one of them would spell the same word three different ways in a paragraph!
Before mass-produced dictionaries, most people did not subscribe to the concept that there was a "standard" way to spell particular words, and just wrote as they pleased
Good point.
To take the Army that he had; practially untrained, and undisciplined, match it up against the greatest army the world had to offer at that time, and craft just the right kind of engagements to remain in the fight, and look enough like you were winning to keep the populace engaged, until you actually see, and seize, the right opportunity to win the entire war; you don't call that skill at military strategy ?
When you can loose every battle, but still win the war, you are skilled at military strategy, I'd say.
When you can lose every battle and not have your army evaporate with everybody going home, then you are a genius at motivating people
Heck, everyone knows that government schools are needed to inculcate Marxism, "diversity", environmentalism, GLB studies, one worldism and why the US is evil incarnate.
Another day, another reason to homeschool. But then, you already knew that even before you logged on, didn’t you?
LOL, I tried, as a graphic designer working for a museum design company, to work an image of Alger Hiss into a mural about the UN for the Smithsonian, but I think they were on to me and they cut that particular image!
I will try to read the Alinsky book, though I’m afraid of what I’ll begin to see all around me once that’s done.
He was the greatest AMERICAN!!!
MLK was a man of enormous charisma and courage and certainly a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement. There is much about him that I admire. An assesment of his life could creditably yield the adjective of great. Despite that, he does not deserve to be the ONLY American with his own holiday named after him. That honor should be reserved for only one person in American history, the greatest of all Americans, George Washington. More so than any other SINGLE figure in our history, he was the “indispensable man.” Without his courage, acumen, honor, and integrity, the US would simply not exist, and if it did, it probably would have been as a monarchy and certainly not as a constitutional republic.
MLK’s birthday was a sop to PC and a reflection of the DemocRAT Congress that voted it. The depth of MLK’s association with the most anti-freedom ideology (Communism)of our time will prove to very embarrassing when it is fully revealed. Additionally, MLK’s legacy to the modern day civil rights movement is a socialist bequeathment, that of looking to big government solutions for many of the behavioral problems in today’s black community. MLK continues to cast a long shadow over most of the modern day civil rights establishment and black politicians who largely reject free market, educationally based solutions to the unique problems plaguing the black community.
pinf for later
True...I should have indicated “operational,” rather than just “strategy.”
>>>I will try to read the Alinsky book, though I’m afraid of what I’ll begin to see all around me once that’s done.<<<
I understand your feelings, but consider this - you are fighting not just for your freedom, but the freedom of generations to come. Come join those of us who subvert the Left... and they’re so smug they usually have no clue whatsoever. Maybe that’s what happens when your philosophy explicitly states the need for “useful idiots” to move itself forward.
Every American should read “Washington: The Indispensable Man” by James Thomas Flexner
Oh silly me I should have figured that out on my own !!! :)
ping for reply later
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