Tuesday, January 22, 2013

what happened to our history?

Todays post is a bit of a rant...first let me tell you the background story/reason for my rant.
I am a firm believer that "those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it" (Winston Churchill), and while our American history is full of evil...it is also full of hope, and love, and justice, and when our children are not taught the full history of their heritage, they are bound to make the same mistakes.  I am very proud of my military family...past and present...that give their lives for our freedom...the freedom to learn from our past and to bless the future of our children.

This is my dad...Chester Raczka.  He served in the navy during WWII, and was stationed on the USS Lexington and the USS Wasp, both of which sunk.  He also fought in the Battle of Midway.  I am so proud of him.  My husband Chuck was also a navy man, as is my grand-daughter and her husband, and another grandson-in-law.  I also have a grandson in the army, plus numerous nieces and nephews.  And I am so proud of them all.  Now the reason for my rant....last night at the dinner table, Hannah and I were talking about all sorts of things.  Somehow we got on the subject of my dad, and I told her that he served in the war.  She asked if it was like the show M.A.S.H. and I told her that was the Korean War.  She asked if that was the one with Hitler, and I responded, no, that was WWII, to which she responded "oh, that's Hogans Heros".  How sad that she is learning history from sitcoms on our classic tv stations and not from her teachers at school.  I had asked her before about her classes at school, and today they are not teaching American history, but they are teaching about world cultures and land masses and people groups.  Really?  People groups?  How can our children avoid our past mistakes as "people groups" if we don't tell them, and teach them, our history, good and bad.  I remember being in elementary school (grade K-6) and learning the 50 states, and their capitals, and even the flowers, trees, and birds.  I also learned about the pilgrims and the Revolutionary war, and the Indians and the move west, (including the wrongs we did to the Indians), and so much more.  When,and where, are our children learning that today?
I for one will be teaching my children more myself.  Time for visits to museums, and history videos.  What about you?  How will you help teach our future to not repeat our past?
Be blessed,
Debbi
 

9 comments:

Miss Val's Creations said...

This is so sad! I remember learning the same things you did and loving it. My dad grew up in Lexington, MA (where the battle of Lexington and Concord was fought). Rich with history! I always loved learning about our history, particularly pertaining to the settlers and learning about our founding fathers. I do not have children so I had no idea they are not teaching these things anymore. :(

Eyelah said...

What kind of school does she go to? I had 4 years of history in high and school and 2 of those years were devoted to American History. My best friend is currently a history teach in NYC and she teaches American history. It's her favorite subject to teach. I think it is very important to learn about other cultures and world views but I know for fact it's not the only history subject I learned in high school or middle school.

Jesi Passepartout said...

This is one of the reasons I want to homeschool my son! Most of today's schools are really lagging behind in my opinion. I was homeschooled and so it's something that has worked for me. My great grandfather served in WWII on a submarine destroyer!

Unknown said...

she is in the 6th grade in our public middle school. I also took history in high school, but I remember starting to learn right from kindergarten. Yes other cultures and world views are important, but not to the exclusion of our national pride and heritage.

Unknown said...

good for you....I am a big proponant of homeschooling. I was able to homeschool Hannah for one year, and would love to try it again. Despite the problems, she learned more in that one year than she did in 2+ years of public school. She was homeschooled for 4th grade, and when she returned in 5th grade, they were just starting some of the subjects that we had already learned. And now in 6th grade, they are still just starting on some subjects that we had covered in 4th grade. Now I am certainly NOT blaming our teachers, they work very hard with very little support. It's the whole "no child left behind" stuff.

Unknown said...

Some schools skip entire chunks of history, as if it never happened. I come from a military family too and it's sad to think they risked their lives and so many others died so that our history would just be ignored and forgotten. We cannot learn from our pasts if we are ignorant to it.

2justByou said...

It's incredibly saddening to see that some schools aren't teaching what I thought were basics in history. While I do believe it's important to learn about people groups and such, it's also a plain fact that we live in the U.S. and our history should be taught from the beginning. I, like you, Debbi, remember doing a full state report (I had WA state), memorizing the 50 states and capitals...All of this started in 3rd grade, if not earlier. If they're not teaching that these days, then how will they be prepared for US History in high school? It IS still a graduation requirement for high school, right?
I think you've got the right idea, Debbi. Trips to museums, casual small talks about it, and it's great that you have military family to incorporate for her to get a better idea of it all. I LOVE the photo you posted today!!!
~Kim
PS - Thanks for commenting on my blog today. =0)

Unknown said...

if you ever go to a parade, you can see that almost no-one stands up when the flag comes by...if our children are taught just how great this country is...our future would be so bright!

Unknown said...

in grade school, I think it's up to the teachers on history. they learn a little about the pilgrims on Thanksgiving and stuff like that. I'm not sure what they teach in the high school anymore. The year I homeschooled Hannah, at the end of the year I only had to test her on math and language arts...that was all that I was required by the state to teach her. Needless to say, I also taught her history, science, art, music, and tested her on history and science. I would really love to home school her again, when we get some things here at home taken care of first.

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