History Challenge

Fire of Liberty

As I was perusing today's Los Angeles Times Op/Ed section, I came across this awesome piece by David Gelernter, which notes how our nation is suffering from a dearth of knowledge when it comes to history. As Gelernter notes in his piece, the young boys and girls in this nation go to school everyday and learn history which is absent of facts but loaded with ideology thus turning out folks who deem our founding fathers as greedy slave-holders instead of the creators of a grand republic, or who know more about FDR imprisoning the Japanese in Camps during WWII but couldn't tell you about Midway, the Bataan Death March, or the horrific nature of the Japanese Empire at the time. Even worse, these young kids could grow up to become a US Senator and dole out moon-bat histories like Durbin and others continue to do. Anyway, check out some of Gelernter's column:

To forget your own history is (literally) to forget your identity. By teaching ideology instead of facts, our schools are erasing the nation's collective memory. As a result, some "expert" can go on TV and announce (20 minutes into the fighting) that Afghanistan, Iraq or wherever "is the new Vietnam" — and young people can't tell he is talking drivel.

There is an ongoing culture war between Americans who are ashamed of this nation's history and those who acknowledge with sorrow its many sins and are fiercely proud of it anyway. Proud of the 17th century settlers who threw their entire lives overboard and set sail for religious freedom in their rickety little ships. Proud of the new nation that taught democracy to the world. Proud of its ferocious fight to free the slaves, save the Union and drag (lug, shove, sweat, bleed) America a few inches closer to its own sublime ideals. Proud of its victories in two world wars and the Cold War, proud of the fight it is waging this very day for freedom in Iraq and the whole Middle East.

If you are proud of this country and don't want its identity to vanish, you must teach U.S. history to your children. They won't learn it in school. This nation's memory will go blank unless you act.

Bravo, Bravo!!! I'd say that we can do a better job and should get started before it gets to the point that kids know more about Paris Hilton and Survivor than about the Founding Fathers and WWII.