Yale history major George W. Bush, aka "The Decider," aka the 43rd President of the United States, acknowledged before a group of high-tech executives on Friday, 4/21/06, that "history may not make it." His comments about teaching the subject of history came as he stressed the need to focus on math and science to stay competitive with the rest of the world.
Here is my sonic meme, intended to contextualize this approach and throw a bit of cold water on it.
For more and more children, the exposure to American history --- the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, how the government was formed, how laws are passed -- has been eliminated. The sociopolitical implications of poor black and Hispanic children not learning about the Civil Rights movement, not learning about women's suffrage, not learning about the US Civil War, and not learning about any historical or contemporary instance of civil disobedience is more than just chilling. It smacks of an Orwellian attempt not merely to rewrite history, but to get rid of it.
2 comments:
My History / techno-head friends enjoyed that. Keep up the beats and the message.
The worst part is that the press won't pick up on this as anything more than a "lighthearted moment".
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/536B7963CC7DFF7C862571580011AFBD?OpenDocument
You have published a much-needed website.
May other educators join your efforts.
For all of the children of this country, and of the world, keep up the good work.
Lee Herald
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