XPost: soc.history, alt.education, alt.revisionism
XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
From:
leroysoetoro@bho-rejected.com
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/17/charlottesville-what-happens-if- americas-children-lose-our-history.html
As the school year kicks off in many places across the country it
coincides with a very real and explosive situation taking place in
America’s streets that speaks directly to the decline of history in this country. Following the terrible events in Charlottesville, we are now
facing the very real threat of our children not only losing history
through lack of education, but through erasure.
The distressing events of the last several days do provide us with an opportunity to educate our children about history, if we are willing to
take it.
I am an author of historical fiction books for kids. And all the time, I
hear some version of this lament: “History is just not being taught in our schools anymore! Kids don’t know if the war for independence was the Revolutionary War or the Civil War – it’s pathetic!”
To that, I like to respond that instead of acting like history armchair quarterbacks and placing blame and full responsibility on our school
system, perhaps take a good look in the mirror and get a gander at an absolutely perfect part of the solution staring right back at you.
It’s true, history is not being taught as it once was in our schools. An article from the American History Association, “The End of History
Education in Elementary Schools?,” sounded the alarm over the decline of history education in a survey that said, “When queried about how history education fared in comparison to other subject offerings … 88 percent of
the elementary teachers noted that it was considered a low priority and 63 percent of the elementary school principals noted that history education's importance paled in comparison to subjects such as reading and
mathematics.”
But to that, I say: Families, how hard would it be to talk a little
history at the dinner table or while driving in the car? Or to go visit a historic site or museum? Or to watch a historical film? Or to read some
fun history books together?
If our children aren’t being thoroughly taught history with details like
who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” (do you know who said
that?), then we need to work along with our schools and help fill the gaps ourselves. Whether you have children or not, why not go visit a school and share a fun story or artifact from American history with a class of third graders? Dare I suggest volunteering to lead a history club?
What’s happening in the country right now actually offers a perfect
opportunity to teach children about our past. The response to
Charlottesville should not be to remove our national monuments, but to
point to them and teach the history behind them. Why are we so afraid to
do that?
Our kids need to learn the good, the bad and the ugly side of America's history, so they will learn not to repeat the bad and aspire to surpass
the good. It's the painful lessons that teach us the most, and that stick
with us most in life.
You’ve heard the often-repeated phrase, “Those who don’t remember history
are doomed to repeat it.” The phrase is repeated because people find it to
be timelessly true. And I submit that it’s hard for children to remember something that they aren’t taught.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis recently gave an interview with The
Islander high school paper, and was asked what subjects students should be studying to prepare them to be politically active and aware adults. “I
don’t think you can go wrong if you maintain an avid interest in history,”
he said. “The reason I say that is you’ll find that really, there’s
nothing new under the sun, other than some of the technology we use.”
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past,” said Patrick Henry in 1775. The Founding Fathers certainly studied history.
They studied the ancient civilizations and empires of Greece and Rome.
They meticulously looked at what worked and what didn’t work with human
beings and government across time. And as a result, the experiment of
American government set in motion something completely new in history – something that had never been done before.
So here is my challenge to parents and non-parents alike: If we don’t take personal responsibility to know history ourselves, and to teach what we
know to the next generation, then who will?
This summer I taught kids how to be colonial soldiers at an Epic Patriot
Camp in South Carolina. I asked them what would happen if we lost our
history. “We’d lose our future,” they told me. Then I asked them whose responsibility it was to preserve our history. Their answer might surprise
you. “Ours,” they said.
If kids are willing to be responsible for preserving America’s history,
then that’s half the battle, isn’t it? The rest is up to us to teach them.
Only a few lines after his “lamp of experience” quote, Patrick Henry
rallied a nation to independence with seven little words, “Give me
liberty, or give me death!”
Now you remember who said that. So go share it with a child today. Take a
look at what is happening in our country – the good, the bad and the ugly
– and talk about it with a young person. They will be grateful for it. So
will our country.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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