Don't know much about history

TownHall.com ^ | 7/15/2003 | Mona Charen

[LiteKeeper]

to improve the teaching of American history

With all of the revisionism abroad today, which history are they going to teach? Hopefully, it will be His-story!

[wideawake]

Thirty five percent thought that "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" (the Marxist nostrum) was in the Constitution.

The NEA has proven very effective.

[Support Free Republic]

SHOW JIM THE MONEY!!!!

[Severa]

I graduated HS in 1995 and I can quite honestly tell you we studied the Vietnam war for LESS THAN A WEEK. I can't imagine things have gotten better since I graduated...

[DeFault User]

Perhaps The saddest part is that they were testing only seniors at the top 55 liberal arts colleges..

I could believe it if it were high school freshmen, but college seniors at the top 55 liberal arts colleges--that's too sickening.

[Maceman]

Cole hopes the NEH grant to improve the teaching of American history will spur colleges to reinstate history requirements.

Sure. Let's give the colleges more money to teach American history --you know, how the counders were all dead white slave owning males who spread slavery and oppression across the continent and throughout the world, how America has raped the planet and caused all wars. And how FDR saved us from capitalism. Look what's happened to the Smithsonian.

Maybe we would do better to just abolish the NEH (along with National ENdowment for the Arts), and start letting Americans keep more of their own money -- the way the founders intended.

[ClearCase_guy]

I graduated HS in 1978. Had a class called "Twentieth Century Europe". We started in 1492 (gotta have the background) and by the end of the semester, we had gotten to 1912. Nothing much happened after 1912, right?

[DeFault User]

Back in the Stone Age, we were required to study state history/government (Texas), US history/government, World History and even a special course on Communism (know your enemy sort of thing).

[wideawake]

Remember that the top 55 liberal arts colleges are disproportionately attended by America-hating limousine liberals and their children.

I'll bet that if a different cross section of liberal arts colleges were used the results would be much more heartening.

[dts32041]

All you have to do is understand the treaty of Vienna and Mitterneck (sp) and you can put the current history of Europe and Israel into prospective.

[YaYa123]

"Don't know much about history"
Harrison Ford in the barn with the Amish widow.

(Funny how the mind works)

[DeFault User]

I hope you're right about the "lesser" colleges. I tried to make certain my children learned and experienced history, not only from texts but from visits to historical sites. Hopefully, they got some feel for it from visits to Williamsburg, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, Lexington and numerous Civil War battlefields. (Vacations can be made educational.)

[dts32041]

Actually that is the congress of vienna, which occured in 1848 if I am not mistaken.

[warchild9]

The League of the South holds seminars ("hedge schools") for young people in an effort to teach them that history isn't last year's sports' scores, which is how most Americans define the term.

[DeFault User]

It's sort of sad, isn't it, that special arrangement have to be made to teach students what should be part of the everyday curriculum from elementary school on?

But at least an effort is being made.

[steve50]

It's sort of sad, isn't it, that special arrangement have to be made to teach students what should be part of the everyday curriculum from elementary school on?

Most parents don't care. Our local school ranks in the bottom 25% on math and science skills everytime they're tested, nobody seems to give a damn. Let the football team have two losing seasons in a row and somebodies head is going to roll tho.

[DeFault User]

"Don't know much about history" Harrison Ford in the barn with the Amish widow.

My head pulls up Sam Cooke singing "Don't know much about history...".

[DeFault User]

Our local school ranks in the bottom 25% on math and science skills everytime they're tested, nobody seems to give a damn.

If you have children, I hope you can make arrangements for a better school/education than one that is satisfied with the bottom 25%.

[mtbopfuyn]

With all of the revisionism abroad today, which history are they going to teach? Hopefully, it will be His-story!

Wasn't "His-story" a Michael Jackson album title - talk about your revisionism. Actually, I'm appalled at the history texts in schools and point out the "mistakes" to my classes. That's also why even though we public school I make sure to do some homeschooling just to set things straight. It's a requirement to learn Texas history in 4th grade but a niece says she didn't and they didn't have any history last year. It's not just the schools as I've been known to holler at the Discovery Channel.