From what I understand, American history is no longer taught in the public schools, except for some damning coverage of slavery, and adversity faced by the civil rights movement.
Teaching the Civil War, a war fought to free the slaves, would show a heroic side of the United States, and that is frankly impermissible.
Well it was Oliver Cromwell & the New Model Army on our side of the pond. You'd get about the same results in England. Some young (& a lot of not so young) people seem to know a lot about the little bubble they live in, but little outside of it, a shame as it's all interesting stuff. I'm more interested in the American Civil War than the English one, as the American one was so bloodthirsty, mainly thanks to the use of the rifle. I think I'll have another look at my Ken Burns, The American Civil War DVD set.
There's an amazing fact that I think I read on a post right here. There was a woman on a fifties American TV show who's claim to fame was that she was the last living eyewitness to Abraham Lincoln's assassination. I was alive then (born 1950), I could have shaken the hand of someone who was there.
These are very basic facts an average person should know and be able to retain. Especially if you make it all the way into college. I have to believe these things are taught in school, but kids are cheating or teachers are forced to pass students because of the conveyer belt system.
Some young (& a lot of not so young) people seem to know a lot about the little bubble they live in, but little outside of it, a shame as it's all interesting stuff.
Yes, like this gauche youth:
He went to a public (that's very elite private) school, and he doesn't know the most basic historical and Latin fact. AND HE'S PRIME MINISTER! Hell, even if you didn't know it, you could guess it.
We have kids here who think Churchill is a dog from an insurance advert!! Its a shame they dont teach enough of history, period. Or what they do teach has a selectively politically correct slant.
They say the only new things in life are the bits of history you dont know. In other words, everything has happened before and we should learn from it. If they arent teaching what happened in ww2 - what chance u.s civil war and english civil war?
But are they not teaching, or not learning? I find it hard to believe very basic aspects of American history isn't taught in schools. I wonder what's in the current text books, and what assignments kids are getting. I don't have evidence to say either way.
I did actually pick up a thing or two via Spielberg's Lincoln. The film gets the message across that Lincoln had to shoehorn several things simultaneously in order to achieve full closure on his record in office and to put the country into a progressive footing following the war. The full cost of doing this was something even he did not recognize. The crux of these points were not previously known to me.
But are they not teaching, or not learning? I find it hard to believe very basic aspects of American history isn't taught in schools. I wonder what's in the current text books, and what assignments kids are getting. I don't have evidence to say either way.
I tried to tell you before, the current curriculum in public schools does not cover American history as we understand it. They take a Howard Zinn approach to damn capitalism and the United States. This requires that a great many facts be omitted.
