Is history disappearing?

"History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are." - David C. McCullough

"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past." - Edward Gibbon

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana

This weekend, Mr. Zen and I were around some young people in their early teens. We were playing a sort of roundtable discussion game, in which a question is asked (drawn from a deck of cards) and each person in the circle discusses his or her answer to the group.

The question was, "if you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

Mr. Zen's answer was "Hawaii." He's been there before and would like to return. He talked about all the neat things he saw when he was there, including the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

A 14 year old boy didn't know what the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial was, so Mr. Zen and I described it to him, explaining that it was where the Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor.

The boy then asked, in all seriousness, "did the Japanese attack while you were there?"

After picking his jaw up off the floor, Mr. Zen explained that the attack was in World War II and then asked the boy, "Haven't you ever heard of Pearl Harbor?"

The boy, who starts 7th grade this year, said no.

Mr. Zen asked the boy if he'd ever heard about World War II or learned anything about it in school.

The boy again said no.

He didn't know anything about WWII. No knowledge of Pearl Harbor, nothing about the Nazis or the Holocaust, nothing about D-Day. The names Patton, Eisenhower and MacArthur meant nothing to him.

He had only a very cursory knowledge of the atomic bomb, which is even more surprising because the boy lives in Oak Ridge, HOME OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT. The very city in which he lives only exists because of World War II and the events that led up to it.

According to Tennessee curriculum standards, this child would have learned about World War II in 5th grade. The child in question had completed 5th grade. In fact, he went through 5th grade twice because his mother and his teacher didn't believe that he was mature enough to go on to 6th grade the first time.

My point is that the child should have had some knowledge of what Pearl Harbor is.

Mr. Zen finally asked the boy, "What have you learned in history class?"

The boy said that he'd learned about ancient civilizations such as Atlantis.

ATLANTIS.

Very reassuring.

I hope that history lessons aren't being sacrificed in schools in order to teach only what is covered on the standardized tests. I wish I could get my hands on some copies of the TCAP tests just to see what is covered in the social studies and science portions.

To me, it is appalling that a 14 year old did not know about Pearl Harbor. It's also alarming that he believed Atlantis was a real ancient civilization and that he claims he was taught about it in school.

Is there a chapter in his biology book that addresses Sasquatch and the monster of Loch Ness?

Parents, please let this serve as a wake-up call. Get involved in your child's education. Make sure that your child is learning everything he or she needs to know. Supplement your child's education. Expose them to history!

If you have a day off, get your child out and make it a learning day. Last President's Day, I took my boys to the home of President Andrew Johnson. They learned things that I don't believe they'd ever read in a history textbook... and had fun in the process.

Change the channel from the cartoon channel to the History Channel. Get out those thought provoking movies like "Patton," "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Bridge on the River Kwai." Read "The Diary of Anne Frank" with your child. Visit those Civil War battlefields and military cemeteries. Tour the historic homes. Wander through the museums and do more than just play on the hands-on exhibits.

Did you know that there is a FREE museum at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville?

The Frank H. McClung museum is located at:
1327 Circle Park Drive
Knoxville, Tennessee

It's open every day, except major holidays. Admission is absolutely FREE. It's a fantastic museum, filled with collections in anthropology, archaeology, decorative arts, local history, and natural history.

Don't depend solely on the schools to teach your children everything they need to know and don't rely solely on the schools to help them retain it. Parents are teachers, too.

Don't let this child's answers and lack of knowledge become the standard.

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