Today is the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “A day that will live in infamy”, I wonder how true that is. One thing that has always bothered me is that I never studied W.W.2 in school. All that I know of the history has been told to me by people who were there, or is from books that I sought out. Over the years I have had many conversations with people my age and younger and in general I find that their knowledge of the war and the events leading up to it is slim.
I have no way of knowing if my experience in the public school system is common. I did some hunting around on the net to find some kind of curicullum guidelines with no luck. It is something I am curious about.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has purchase the Hard Rock Cafe franchise. This seems like an obvious move to bring gambling to many their locations although, it’s not playing that way in the press.
Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa has requested a meeting with Barry Bonds?? Just say no, Tony.
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Tags: Education, Pearl Harbor, Seminole
Stephanie Vann wrote,
I think the curriculum will vary depending on where you’re from. In the UK, modern history is very commonly taught, to the extent that people have begun to campaign to get more old-fashioned style history added to the curriculum once more. Names, dates and general chronology fell out of fashion a few decades back, along with anything pre-WWI, and its only now that the politicians seem to be realising that that might create a problem with general comprehension.
Link | December 8th, 2006 at 10:11 am
Pribek wrote,
That’s interesting Stephanie, I think the key phrase is “general comprehension”. Over here, History, for the most part, has been replaced with Social Studies. In my experience with Social Studies the topic of war seemed avoided, and when any war was discussed it seemed more focused on the effects rather than the causes. In high school I took an elective class that lasted a full year, taught by Raymond Hamm, of the history of our Civil War. The entire first semester was devoted to the events leading up to the conflict. I gained an understanding that went far beyond the slavery issue.
I feel that “cause” is the part of history that needs to be studied if we don’t want to be “doomed to repeat it”.
Link | December 8th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Jayne d'Arcy wrote,
Good old Raymond D. Hamm was an exceptional teacher, Jack. I didn’t realize you also was a student of his. I loved his Civil War class and believe I gained an appreciation for history in his class. I wish more teachers had been like him.
Link | December 8th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Stephanie Vann wrote,
I would agree about the general comprehension bit. Here the social element also got highly emphasised, to the extent that the where things fall in time and space has started to be lost. People don’t seem aware that event A happened before event B, and thus part of the reason for event B is not understood properly. As with your civil war example, knowledge of history is enhanced by not trying to understand things in isolation. History isn’t a series of unconnected case studies. It’s more like beads on a chain, with one event impacting on the next.
Link | December 10th, 2006 at 5:45 am