(no subject)

[shipperx]

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Full Article:
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/123497829.html


Excerpt:

Where history is concerned, this is fast becoming a nation of ignoramuses and amnesiacs.

The alarm bell has been ringing for years. Consider "Losing America's Memory: Historical Illiteracy in the 21st Century," a 2000 study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Researchers found that the majority of seniors at the nation's best colleges could not identify the words of the Gettysburg Address or explain the significance of Valley Forge. They did not know, the study concluded, because they had not been taught. History, the study said, was no longer a requirement in the nation's top schools.

And then, there is a 2006 assessment by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, often called the Nation's Report Card. It found that nearly 40 percent of high school seniors could not identify the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition {...}  If kids are bored by that, who can blame them? And who cares?

We all should. No child should be able to finish public school, much less college, without a firm grasp of American history. Because history is not dust. Nor is it myths we tell to comfort and acquit ourselves.  Nor is it a lever we twist in order to gain political advantage. No, our history is the master narrative of who we are.

It is a narrative of slaves and soldiers, inventors and investors, demagogues and visionaries, of homicide, fratricide and genocide, of truths held self-evident and of government of the people, by the people and for the people....

(rest of article: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/123497829.html ) 

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Book Rec's in this regard:
Lies My Teacher Told Me 
(Professional review:  Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past.   From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

Thought provoking, nonpartisan, and often shocking, Loewen unveils the real America in this iconoclastic classic beloved by high school teachers and history buffs alike. )

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Back to fannish material:

Meanwhile, in the totally fictional (and bloodsoaked) history of Westeros (Game of Thrones), I have finished about 85% of Storm of Swords now and...

OMG I hate Cersei Lannister!  I want deeply horrible, vile, horrible, dire, awful, painful, excruciating, horrible things to happen to her!

I don't hate her in a 'she's a villain and so I hate in  a love to hate" way where I wonder "Hmm... what scheme will she come up with next?" while mentally rubbing my hands together in anticipation (Littlefinger has me intrigued in this regard) .  No, the hate I bear for this character is  "I know she's only a fictional character but I want something truly permanent, horrible, and painful to happen to her, and I will most  likely cheer any character that can do it ...because did I mention that I HATE her?  Because I do!" 

*ahem*

Back to your usual LJ broadcasting....

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

So very true, most High Schoolers can tell you the plots of their favorite television shows or the goings-on of their favorite celebrities but are clueless to anything regarding their own history - including the name of the Mayor of their own City or their Governor. This I know because of a questionnaire the local High School would give out for the Seniors to find the answers to.

What a world.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Yay history! Though I always find it a bit weird, quite how much emphasis is put on American history in the US. I think I would have been bored to death if we had that much Austrian history. And I still think even here we focus too strongly on western history. I mean all in all we spent maybe a month or so on Chinese history.

On Cersei: She's so horrible, isn't she. She gets even more horrible when she has her own chapters. She so insanely stupid.

[fenderlove.livejournal.com]

When I was in elementary school, every year we had World History, but there were breaks where one year would be Geography and another year might be Tennessee History. In high school, it was required that we have one year of World History, one year of U.S. History, and one year of U.S. Government. However, these classes were not taught per say. The teachers were the male coaches who didn't feel they had to do their jobs because of "FOOTBALL!" so we were on our own. I enjoyed history quite a bit, so I would carefully read through the textbooks and do the worksheets the coaches always "forgot" to pass out. The most memorable thing any teacher in a history class ever did was he forced us to watch an online clip of an aid worker being beheaded just after the start of Bush's war. It was memorable in being something I wish I could forgot.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

I hate Cersei too, so it drives me nuts that the TV series is softening the character. I suspect this is because the actress's participation hinged on making the character more "complex" - that is, rewriting her history and motivations so that she doesn't come off as a complete monster. Please.

Cersei is one of the great villains of the books and they've turned her into someone who used to "love" her husband (and had an otherwise non-existent baby with him out of "love") and who is carrying out her father's mandate because 1) her brothers are incapable of it, 2) she is a mother fiercely protecting her child and 3) she was wronged and thwarted by her awful husband and so had to take his power. Please. Martin was pretty plain about Cersei's nature in the books: she's a power-mad, selfish, vicious LOON.

I'm really tired of watching Lena Headey furrowing her brow thoughtfully and making quiet, measured observations. CERSEI IS CRAZY. When the hell are they going to show it?

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I think I learned as much history in SCHOOL as every other American kid (i.e., not much, or summed up as John Adams says in 1776, "Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown, and on his horse, and then the three of them, Washington, Franklin, and the horse, conducted the entire revolution"), but I was so fascinated by it, and I read so many books, that I just sort of continued learning.

Of course, I never understand people who AREN'T interested in learning more about any subject... I can't figure why Americans are so proud of being dumb. There's a girl I work with who seems to be bright and on-the-ball, and she honest-to-God doesn't know the order of the months. "November is eight, right?" "No, eleven!"