Re: [DL] Civil War Banned from Knox County Schools

[Harry Canyon <harrycanyon@mac.com>]

> On 1/8/03 2:04 AM, "markus.finster@chello.at" <markus.finster@chello.at>
wrote:

>> Come to think of it, I don't think I learned much about history until I was
>> out of school and sought it out on my own.
> 
> Reminds me of a teacher I had when I was 17 or 18. We learned for weeks about
> Empress Maria Theresia (one of the most importan figures in Austrian history)
> - but only internal politics. We even had to learn the names of every single
> advisor she ever had. Ok, so finally, we heard all about her changes in
> Austrian School System and whatnot, then we switch to the French Revolution.
> So I ask, "Uhm, Ma'am, what about the external affairs in that period". And
> she looks at me and says, "Oh, there wasn't really anything worth mentioning".
> Oh, right. Just the Seven-Years-War, the Uprising in the Netherlands, the
> Russian-Turkisch War, the Austrian-Turkish War...

The only history class I remember learning anything from was a government
class I had my senior year.  (And I ain't about to tell you how long ago
that was! ;-)

Overall, I'm tired of the "bar" being lowered.  We should be raising the
standards (or at least keeping it at a reasonable level*) for our children.
And if I hear one more thing about federal or state tests I'm going to smack
someone with a 2x4!! :-)

* Defining the "reasonable level" seems to be our biggest problem.  (At
least out here in California.  No a clue what it's like across the rest of
the country.)

Take care,

Derek