RAK
04-12-2006, 12:29 AM
Slow night; Just got done putting together the "MeMachine(ressurected from an EMachine), and just sittin' around waiting for the Boy to get back from his Class Trip to Washington D.C.-the only place in America besides Tom Delay's district that has no representation in Congress. I find it a little ironic that they take these precocious Eighth Graders to our Nation's Capital when they teach them nothing about our history or form of government. The boy's gone nine years in school and never had an American History course, only the enigmatic Social Studies and Geography lessons. He knows more about Iraq than Yorktown and Gettysburg. But, then again, you teach about Democracy and Free Speech, the next thing you knpw they'll be marching in the streets and demanding Human Rights, Equality under the Law, and Honest Politicians, for Christ's Sakes! Can't let that happen; be bad for discipline.:wink:
Well, he got back, worn out and tired, but he had a good time. He really liked that "Big tall thing"(Washington Monument), that "shiny lake( the Reflecting Pool), and the Old Country Buffet they stopped at in Maryland on the way home. Even took some great pictures,though not many. I loaded him up with 50 bucks for souveniers and two memory sticks for the camera, and all he came home with was a few rocks from the Natural History Museum and 16 shots, mostly of T-Rex's(he's a big Dinosaur fan) and "that Big Tall Thing.
Gee, Dad, I'm the World's worst tourist.
To set the record straight, the trip had nothing to do with American History, the study of US Government or even the Mechanical Drawing of "Tall things". The purpose of the trip was to see the Holocaust Museum. The rest was just icing on the cake. It seems that schools are required by state, and I believe Federal. Law to teach courses on the Holocaust. I personally have no big problem with this, though my wife gets a little upset about it; she feels that at the age of 14, this might be a little too strong a topic to pound in their heads. My biggest complaint is this; Why focus on one genocide in the history of the world when there are plenty to go around? Why not teach of the slaughter of the Armenians and the Kurds by the Turks in the beginnig of the 20th Century; Or the Australin Aborignini; or Ethnic Cleansing(pick your side; there was plenty to go around) in the Balkans; Or Rawanda? Or, for that matter, the so-called Indian Wars in the United States? Of course, we made good on that one( "I tell ya' what, my Red Brothers; How about we give you casinos and cheap cigarettes to sell, and we'll just call it even?"). Sudan would be a good Current Events choice. I saw on Tucker Carlson's show a piece about a school in Florida that included in their curriculum that Eighth Graders had to participate in a "role playing" exercise in which one half were the Jailers and one half were the Concentration Camp inmates. The inmates were told where to eat, what water fountain to drink from, and what jobs they could do. Of course, "Mr. Bowtie" thought this was an outrage; And so did my wife. But listening to this report, I was struck by the revelation: Wait a minute! This isn't the Holocaust; This is Jim Crow! Some talented educator in Florida actually found a way to insert US History in public school! This is the history that I lived through in the Sixties' and Seventies', which is almost forgotten today. Whoever this subversive individual is, I would love to shake their hand and make them Secretary of Education. Maybe then, My son would visit Washington D.C. and know that the "Big Tall Thing" was erected in honor of a man who, despite deriving his wealth from the labors of bonded men, had the sense of shame and guilt, and the decency, to free these people after his death; That this "Shining City on the Hill" was constucted in large part by slaves, and that once, at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, beside that "Shiny Lake", a MAN(!) among men stood and said "I have a Dream" that all men would be equal; Even though, according to our Constitution, they were granted that right 100 years before. Yeah, I have to agree; Teaching young people US History is much scarier than the Holocaust: We wouldn't want our youngsters to start thinking for themselves.
RAK
Well, he got back, worn out and tired, but he had a good time. He really liked that "Big tall thing"(Washington Monument), that "shiny lake( the Reflecting Pool), and the Old Country Buffet they stopped at in Maryland on the way home. Even took some great pictures,though not many. I loaded him up with 50 bucks for souveniers and two memory sticks for the camera, and all he came home with was a few rocks from the Natural History Museum and 16 shots, mostly of T-Rex's(he's a big Dinosaur fan) and "that Big Tall Thing.
Gee, Dad, I'm the World's worst tourist.
To set the record straight, the trip had nothing to do with American History, the study of US Government or even the Mechanical Drawing of "Tall things". The purpose of the trip was to see the Holocaust Museum. The rest was just icing on the cake. It seems that schools are required by state, and I believe Federal. Law to teach courses on the Holocaust. I personally have no big problem with this, though my wife gets a little upset about it; she feels that at the age of 14, this might be a little too strong a topic to pound in their heads. My biggest complaint is this; Why focus on one genocide in the history of the world when there are plenty to go around? Why not teach of the slaughter of the Armenians and the Kurds by the Turks in the beginnig of the 20th Century; Or the Australin Aborignini; or Ethnic Cleansing(pick your side; there was plenty to go around) in the Balkans; Or Rawanda? Or, for that matter, the so-called Indian Wars in the United States? Of course, we made good on that one( "I tell ya' what, my Red Brothers; How about we give you casinos and cheap cigarettes to sell, and we'll just call it even?"). Sudan would be a good Current Events choice. I saw on Tucker Carlson's show a piece about a school in Florida that included in their curriculum that Eighth Graders had to participate in a "role playing" exercise in which one half were the Jailers and one half were the Concentration Camp inmates. The inmates were told where to eat, what water fountain to drink from, and what jobs they could do. Of course, "Mr. Bowtie" thought this was an outrage; And so did my wife. But listening to this report, I was struck by the revelation: Wait a minute! This isn't the Holocaust; This is Jim Crow! Some talented educator in Florida actually found a way to insert US History in public school! This is the history that I lived through in the Sixties' and Seventies', which is almost forgotten today. Whoever this subversive individual is, I would love to shake their hand and make them Secretary of Education. Maybe then, My son would visit Washington D.C. and know that the "Big Tall Thing" was erected in honor of a man who, despite deriving his wealth from the labors of bonded men, had the sense of shame and guilt, and the decency, to free these people after his death; That this "Shining City on the Hill" was constucted in large part by slaves, and that once, at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, beside that "Shiny Lake", a MAN(!) among men stood and said "I have a Dream" that all men would be equal; Even though, according to our Constitution, they were granted that right 100 years before. Yeah, I have to agree; Teaching young people US History is much scarier than the Holocaust: We wouldn't want our youngsters to start thinking for themselves.
RAK