She didn't know what the Cold War was!

[DamnFineBob]

So, I was in my office shatting with one of the accounting girls who is about 6
or so years younger than myself, when I mentioned the Cold War.

Specifically, I mentioned having to do "nuclear attack drills" in school, in which we'd hide under our desks from the initial blast, then proceed to the fallout shelter in an orderly fashion.

After a few puzzled looks, the says "The Cold War... was that the first one in the '90s, with that guy?" Amazing! Here's a college educated woman who has no clue that we had a tense relationship with Russia for 50 years straight. No idea what fallout shelters were for. No clue what "The Iron Curtain" means. And she votes!!! (but probably for the candidate with the best buns).

 

[dpm802]

I have a friend who, just like me, is a Middle Aged White Guy ... I went to a public high school, he went to a catholic high school. And yet, he has asked me to explain to him such basics as:

"What's the difference between a Senator and a Congressman?"
"What's the difference between an island and a continent?"
"What's the difference between horizontal and vertical?"

He has lived in the same house for 40 years, but he can't give directions to an out-of-town visitor on how to get to the turnpike, which is only 3 miles away and involves only 2 right turns to get there. He can't find New Jersey on a map.

 

[bradyarz]

So, I was in my office shatting...

sorry, it had to be done.

 

[DamnFineBob]

I have a friend who, just like me, is a Middle Aged White Guy ... I went to a public high school, he went to a catholic high school. And yet, he has asked me to explain to him such basics as...

Ah, HA! It actually WAS a Catholic University that she attended!!!

I had gone to Catholic school from Kindergarten to 12th, and I never realized how poor my education was until I got into the working world. For example, public school kids were taught on computers, while I had been taught by the nuns to use a mid-50's electric typewriter. Also, unlike what we were told as kids, the public school students were happy... their parents did love them, even if they didn't send them to Catholic school... the public school teachers did know their names, and they weren't "just a number"... and bullies did not steal their lunch money every day!

Everyone I know who attended Catholic school seems to have had the same realization once they reached work or college. Brainwashed, we were.

 

[ouch]

 

[JECIII]

I don’t know a lot of history stuff or know the meaning of every title or name of event. But there is a lot I do know.

Don't get me wrong, I have great respect and am very thankful to the people of our history, soldiers, founding fathers etc..

I have found people that don't know what I know, and when I do I teach them what I can. And more times then not there are things they teach me.

We should share our knowledge, but also our wisdom with one another to try to make this world a better place.

I do believe children should be taught in a balanced format from different people providing they are being truthful, I sure would have appreciated it.

 

[BladeRunner001]

These days, a classical, well rounded education seems to be rare. Every college/University is teaching a trade (Medicine, Law, Accounting, etc...). History, Literature, geography, etc seem to go out the window and students don't take them seriously anymore.

 

[Blue58]

Years ago my niece who was in middle school at the time had to do a book report on WWII, after she finished writing it she brought it out for all to read and make suggestions for improvements.

Well after reading it we were all a bit concerned, in her report she stated that it was very clear that the USA started the war by first attacking Germany for no obvious reason and that Germany was only defending itself from the USA, the report then went on to say that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor only in retaliation for the USA's unjustified bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We ask where she got this information and she showed us her history book.... the book gave no dates for anything but most definitely implied by way of presentation that the USA was the unjustified attacker in every case.

We gave her 2 Time Life books specifically about WWII that were done in 1945 that gave dates and times and about 500 photos.

She was totally shocked to learn that her history books were all a lie and that nothing in them was true.

She was also going to a Catholic school see any coincidences here??

 

[knlgskr]

Knowledge and happiness are twins and should be shared. History is a dynamic subject but "What is past is Prologue" is often ignored/forgotten. That which is without a past is often without a future. If we are fortunate, we learn from the past what to do in the present and not to do in the future. Lifting the veil of ignorance and replacing it with that of enlightenment is and should be a pleasure for all involved. Ignorance is curable, stupidity is terminal but nevertheless, we should make the attempt for we may suprise everyone including ourselves. We get wiser and better looking every day; that should give us reasons to look forward to tomorrow.

 

[Confilo]

" If you think Education is Expensive, TRY IGNORANCE"

 

[DamnFineBob]

...in her report she stated that it was very clear that the USA started the war by first attacking Germany for no obvious reason and that Germany was only defending itself from the USA, the report then went on to say that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor only in retaliation for the USA's unjustified bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We ask where she got this information and she showed us her history book.... the book gave no dates for anything but most definitely implied by way of presentation that the USA was the unjustified attacker in every case.

Now that is just plain scary! I'm glad you explained things the way they happened, but the thought of such "textbooks" still in circulation is very concerning.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I went to a working class Catholic school for elementary and high school. The nuns were incredibly rigorous. The nun who taught calculus was probably old enough to have learned it directly from Isaac Newton, but she was fantastic--she left the college where she had been teaching to work with high school students. They made their small budget for science classes go much further than the public schools by cajoling local labs into donating supplies. We read world literature before it was hip to do so, but we did the classics too. Every now and then they'd interrupt the schedule to have special classes, like the history of the blues, fly fishing, boxing or music theory, bringing in local hobbyists or professionals for the day as volunteer teachers. They taught us to think critically and independently, and to be personally and socially responsible. Virtually no one in my school had parents who went to college, but almost all of us did. In my little class alone, there is a surprising number of doctors, lawyers, university professors and career military officers. That's the pattern I see with Catholic schools. Of course they can't make everybody into a success. As a hard-nosed old drill instructor told me once, even the Marine Corps can't put in what God left out.

 

[p.m.a.]

My experience was quite the opposite. We had mandatory computer class at my Catholic high school in the 80's long before the public schools got their own student computers, and our college-prep education & AP (Advanced Placement) program was miles ahead of the local public schools. Combine that with mandatory roll-call for each and every class, and a discipline system which kept us accountable, and there you have a winning combination. Also, my Catholic high school popoulation slightly over 1,000 students while our public high schools were larger by two to four times.

Ah, HA! It actually WAS a Catholic University that she attended!!!

I had gone to Catholic school from Kindergarten to 12th, and I never realized how poor my education was until I got into the working world. For example, public school kids were taught on computers, while I had been taught by the nuns to use a mid-50's electric typewriter. Also, unlike what we were told as kids, the public school students were happy... their parents did love them, even if they didn't send them to Catholic school... the public school teachers did know their names, and they weren't "just a number"... and bullies did not steal their lunch money every day!

Everyone I know who attended Catholic school seems to have had the same realization once they reached work or college. Brainwashed, we were.

 

[craig87c]

He can't find New Jersey on a map.

New what?

These days, a classical, well rounded education seems to be rare. Every college/University is teaching a trade (Medicine, Law, Accounting, etc...). History, Literature, geography, etc seem to go out the window and students don't take them seriously anymore.

That's the main thing I've enjoyed about my area of study (Government and Politics). It touches on everything from history to psychology to philosophy.

My experience was quite the opposite. We had mandatory computer class at my Catholic high school in the 80's long before the public schools got their own student computers, and our college-prep education & AP (Advanced Placement) program was miles ahead of the local public schools. Combine that with mandatory roll-call for each and every class, and a discipline system which kept us accountable, and there you have a winning combination. Also, my Catholic high school popoulation slightly over 1,000 students while our public high schools were larger by two to four times.

The Catholic and public schools were essentially the same where I grew up (southern Louisiana). Both had computer classes, uniforms, strict administrations. The only real difference was the racial mix of the schools. Most of the Catholic schools were lily white. The entire non-white population of my Catholic school was John and Susan.

 

[Oglethorpe]

I went to a working class Catholic school for elementary and high school. The nuns were incredibly rigorous. The nun who taught calculus was probably old enough to have learned it directly from Isaac Newton, but she was fantastic--she left the college where she had been teaching to work with high school students. They made their small budget for science classes go much further than the public schools by cajoling local labs into donating supplies. We read world literature before it was hip to do so, but we did the classics too. Every now and then they'd interrupt the schedule to have special classes, like the history of the blues, fly fishing, boxing or music theory, bringing in local hobbyists or professionals for the day as volunteer teachers. They taught us to think critically and independently, and to be personally and socially responsible. Virtually no one in my school had parents who went to college, but almost all of us did. In my little class alone, there is a surprising number of doctors, lawyers, university professors and career military officers. That's the pattern I see with Catholic schools. Of course they can't make everybody into a success. As a hard-nosed old drill instructor told me once, even the Marine Corps can't put in what God left out.

This was my experience as well.

I think the products of the education systems in our respective areas have far less to do with whether or not they are private (parochial) vs. public and entirely more on demographics, cost, surroundings, and upbringing.

As for the history books the young girl was learning from, that's inexcusable. However, it's worth mentioning that in my Catholic grade school, our textbooks were sanctioned/provided by the state.

 

[hdhaskell]

When I was in medical school, one of my fellow students asked me to explain the difference between a stock and a bond. Which goes to show:

1. A lot of schools -- like medical schools -- spend their time teaching basic job skills. This is completely understandable: if you're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a degree, it better confer some kind of earning potential.

2. The students at those universities therefore spend their time learning what they're being taught: skills. That's what they know.

3. If all you know is the stuff they taught you in school, you're going to make a lot of ignorant (and potentially expensive) mistakes.

Now I'm not making excuses for high schools: they need to build a foundation. Everyone should graduate from high school with a broad-based education. But from there on out -- is it your English professor's job to teach you history? Or is it the dean's job to make sure you pick the right mixture of classes? I think, once you graduate from high school, it's your job to learn, not someone else's job to teach you. Life is too vast for anyone else to assume the responsibility of teaching you about it.

 

[The Nid Hog]

As for the history books the young girl was learning from, that's inexcusable. However, it's worth mentioning that in my Catholic grade school, our textbooks were sanctioned/provided by the state.

That's true of the school that I went to as well. I'm pretty sure that was necessary in order for the school to be accredited at the state level. Again, that's not to say that there aren't horrible textbooks out there. In fact, I just heard a program on NPR about poor textbooks. A mother who was a Civil War historian spotted some howlers in the textbook that her daughter was using to learn about that era. When the textbook author was questioned about her shoddy work, she admitted that she got the information from her "on-line research." Thanks Wikipedia!

 

[Nishnabotna]

Years ago my niece who was in middle school at the time had to do a book report on WWII, after she finished writing it she brought it out for all to read and make suggestions for improvements.

Well after reading it we were all a bit concerned, in her report she stated that it was very clear that the USA started the war by first attacking Germany for no obvious reason and that Germany was only defending itself from the USA, the report then went on to say that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor only in retaliation for the USA's unjustified bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We ask where she got this information and she showed us her history book.... the book gave no dates for anything but most definitely implied by way of presentation that the USA was the unjustified attacker in every case.

We gave her 2 Time Life books specifically about WWII that were done in 1945 that gave dates and times and about 500 photos.

She was totally shocked to learn that her history books were all a lie and that nothing in them was true.

She was also going to a Catholic school see any coincidences here??

It's almost as if the school book was written by someone trying to press an agenda...

 

[The Nid Hog]

It's almost as if the school book was written by someone trying to press an agenda...

I hardly think that the Catholic Church is advancing the idea that the US waged a war of aggression against the Axis powers.

 

[Cliff Porter]

It takes a generation to inculcate a tradition, and one generation to completely remove the tradition.