I’m glad to know that I, as a history teacher, am in good company with one of out top contemporary American historians – David McCullough.

"We're raising a generation of Americans who are historically illiterate," McCullough said during a speech here Monday. "What they don't know about our history is staggering."

We are a society that has come to value immediacy over context. Too often there is a focus on the contemporary issues to the exclusion of the past. Imagine the shock of my students when they find out that slaves in the Greco-Roman world were white. And I won’t get in to the issue of how many of them insist on correcting me when I try to tell them about the Reformation and Martin Luther – they all shout out “King” the first time I mention the man whose 95 Theses are one of the most important documents of the last millenium. The American Revolution, and Great Depression are mysteries to them, and all they know about the Civil War is slavery. World War II is nothing but the Holocaust to them.

IÂ’m only about 40 years old, but I knew this stuff at a significantly younger age. So did my peers, and our parents. How can we stem the tide that may result in the loss of much of our heritage in the space of a generation?

Posted by: Greg at 01:18 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Ya know I've been thinking the same thing, believe it or not. I am a few years older you, and I work with several twenty-sonethings that are utterly clueless about our own hustory let alone the history of the world. I began to notice this when I heard about the "new emphasis" that our actions @ Hiroshima & Nagasaki were "immoral", and there was no corrosponding discussion about Pearl Harbor, or the Rape of NanKing. Maybe you and I (political differences put aside) should work together to do a history blog.

Posted by: Bubba Bo Bob Brain at Tue Jun 14 14:24:36 2005 (aHbua)

2 Hmmmm.... An intriguing thought.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue Jun 14 17:06:58 2005 (HMt1E)

3 Yeah, sad to see these things happen. They need to learn to put their shoes in that era to see why these things happen. Truman was absolutely distraught in deciding whether to bomb the cities or not. One thing tho, are we seeing a balance in history for other races who had helped contributed in the making of the United States? It's been more than 20 years since I was in high school and yet my oldest daughter will be in the 7th grade. It'd be interesting to see what her history book says. Watch out for those PC lines in history books.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed Jun 15 03:01:18 2005 (JRKms)

4 I just recently found out, a Great Uncle was slated to be in the first wave to attack Japan, if a ground war was to happen. Without the use of those two bombs, would I have my uncle and my cousins? I seriously doubt it. To listen to him talk about the preparations, the military had already written off the first 2 waves that would storm the shores of Japan. The soldiers were being prepared to fight the elderly and the women and children of Japan. Don't know about any of you, but I am glad I was not there, and have nothing but respect for those soldiers preparing to invade Japan. Something kids today don't do is listen and hear the stories of WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam from those older relatives they have that were there, and did the actual fighting. Instead they get liberal indoctrination as soon as the 1st grade, in some states. I would be interested in the History blog if you B can do it without political spin. You can never know everything, and learning should be an everyday thing!

Posted by: scubachris at Wed Jun 15 04:21:47 2005 (AktpP)

5 My great uncle was killed by a Japanese sniper by putting a bullet into his back on one of the islands in the Pacific during WWII.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed Jun 15 10:18:12 2005 (LmcbS)

6 Also, my cousin was killed by a hand thrown grenade tossed into a tent shared by many sleeping troops in Kuwait prior to the 2nd Iraq war at Camp Pennsylvania. The tosser was none other than one of their own.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed Jun 15 10:22:21 2005 (LmcbS)

7 Hey when it comes to history there is no politics as far as I am concerned, there are facts (sometimes inconvenient) and there are myths(always inconvenient, and almost always wrong), I think if I were to do this I would make sure that opinions were advertised as such.

Posted by: Bubba Bo Bob Brain at Wed Jun 15 13:30:07 2005 (aHbua)

8 McConnell: I don't think I'll get any rounds of disagreement from anyone when I say that the person who did that to your cousin was an absolutely vile person. I am sorry for your loss, and respect your cousin's desire to do his or her duty and protect both our lives, and the lives of the Iraqi people. Nothing can repay such sacrifice, but I'd like to find out that we honor the soldiers that fight for us now as best we can. Sub

Posted by: Subjugator at Wed Jun 15 14:23:10 2005 (r/FBF)

9 Thanks Sub. I never knew him. Just my mother's cousin (Betty Lenzi) whose son was killed. My mom knew him when he was a toddler. However, I can you tell you thing. There is one person who have frequented this board who said that Maj. Gregory Stone deserved to be buried rotting 6 ft under. A very vile individual indeed. Dirty mouth and all.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed Jun 15 17:37:58 2005 (JRKms)

10 Exact words: "...second, to make fun of his dead, mangled cousin who is rotting six feet under the cold ground." http://ridor.blogspot.com/2005/04/reminder-for-bitch-session-iv.html That alone proves how some people prefer to side with the enemy and put them on a pedestal instead. In this case, his hero seems to be Sgt. Akbar. In any U.S. wars we should honor and remember the dead. Even some of the enemies such as the ones in Japan and Germany. They were the victim in the politics of war. Many of them were forced into battle. So many young men..literally boys who never gotten a chance at a good life. I've seen a PBS show or something similar where both Japan and U.S. WWII veterans met each other for the first time on one of those Midway islands. Many veterans were happen to have reconciled knowing it was a vile time in history. I thing reconciling such past events is therapeutic and helps heal wounds.

Posted by: mcconnell at Wed Jun 15 17:51:52 2005 (JRKms)

11 I feel bad about anyone who dies in war. They're almost always kids who are either conscripted, brainwashed, misguided, or otherwise actually doing the right thing. What they rarely are is people that are flat out evil and wrong. Now - the LEADERS of the countries that are evil and wrong...well...let's just say Saddam has none of my sympathy. Sub

Posted by: Subjugator at Thu Jun 16 00:15:32 2005 (r/FBF)

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