What they teach children

What are you, a communist? Next you'll be telling us Pocahontas didn't want to move to England!

Hang on for the ride, Perks. It just keeps getting better and better.

This could be a part of why so many parents decide to homeschool.

Yes, old Abe was just happy as a clam... what with a Civil War and an married to a crazy woman. And didn't one son die as a child? Yes sir e bob, he was just the happiest man ever.

Perks said:

In the middle of a civil war, I expect the President of the United States was quite stressed and sleep deprived.

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My god. The war on one side and Mary Todd on the other. I'm surprised he didn't off himself.

SC Harrison said:

My god. The war on one side and Mary Todd on the other. I'm surprised he didn't off himself.

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I sure the bullet was meant for Mary, but poor abe bent over to fix her skirt. What luck?

Perks said:

Yes, but then I would end up in jail.

The devil - or the deep blue sea...

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There's always private school? If you can afford its extremely high cost. If I ever have kids I would want to send them to a private school simply because I think the education and environment would be better. I'm not sure I could ever afford such a thing though.

Lincoln suffered from morbid spells of depression. I guess they don't want to tell the kiddies that.

reph said:

Lincoln suffered from morbid spells of depression. I guess they don't want to tell the kiddies that.

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I don't remember hearing that in school. What's your source?

You didn't hear it in school because they didn't tell the kiddies then, either. Biographies of Lincoln say how troubled he was at some times in his life. I haven't read the biographies. My sources are reviews of them in magazines.

reph said:

You didn't hear it in school because they didn't tell the kiddies then, either. Biographies of Lincoln say how troubled he was at some times in his life. I haven't read the biographies. My sources are reviews of them in magazines.

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You'd think they would teach it in High School then. But as I recall, History classes was more about memorizing names and dates of events than what people in history were like. It seems like History was always taught very black and white - these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. For example, during the Civil war the north were the good guys and the south were the bad guys. Of course being older I understand humanity is not that black and white, no one is wholly good or bad but humans who struggle with day to day choices. Of course if the South had one it would probably be taught that they were the good guys and the North were the bad guys.

Oh, and apparently Columbus "discovered" America...

But there were already all these people here, and the Norsemen and Inuits had been crossing over from Eurasia to Greenland to North America for centuries.

Ooh, and George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, and then confessed to it... Except that that story was invented later by a writer.

Oh, and did anyone hear about Australia and Canada fighting in World War II? They fought like the dickens, but to hear schoolkids talk about it it was all Ike this and Churchill that...

Oh, and did you know Ethiopians were fighting in Korea as our allies?

Hey, did you know Henry Ford was a blatant racist?

Did you know Andrew Jackson was a murderer? He killed multiple men in duels and got away with it.

Of course, this is all inconvenient to the myths built into kid's history books designed to indoctrinate our children to be gfood citizens of the republic.

Hey, I'm a patriot, but I like to know where this patriotism came from.

And come on! How come no one ever talks about Baltimore! Baltimore saved the republic in the War of 1812! Go Baltimore! Three cheers for Baltimore!

What about the war between Canada and the USA?

Yeah! Like I said, GO BALTIMORE!


Or, do you mean the seven years war between British North America and French Canada?

Actually, I'm curious- how is the war of 1812 taught in American schools? Or is it, even?

We were taught that Canada 'won' militarily, America 'won' the negotiations, and the natives just generally lost. And then, because my teacher was rather obsessed with Will Ferguson, we read the Bastards & Boneheads version of it. Excellent book, that is.

I find it really sad that I don't know what you're talking about!! Even worse because I did go to a private school. It was just a long time ago, and I'm horrible at American history. But they still taught us all those old myths in elementary and middle school. I only found out what really happened in high school (also private) and I couldn't believe how much we were lied to. So public vs. private probably doesn't matter much when it comes to history. And I probably still wouldn't have learned about specific people, how they really were, and all the gray areas, if it weren't for a fantastic A.P. teacher senior year. Wasn't at all prepared for the A.P. test at the end of the year, but I knew the truth about the presidents and the wars that I was never taught before! I was also homeschooled, but that was mostly when I was younger. That's a good way to go if you already are a myth-debunker and are prepared to do a lot of extra researching outside what they put in those lying textbooks to trick poor children.

reph said:

Lincoln suffered from morbid spells of depression. I guess they don't want to tell the kiddies that.

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Puddle Jumper said:

I don't remember hearing that in school. What's your source?

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Another delicious irony.

Ocha said:

Actually, I'm curious- how is the war of 1812 taught in American schools? Or is it, even?

We were taught that Canada 'won' militarily, America 'won' the negotiations, and the natives just generally lost. And then, because my teacher was rather obsessed with Will Ferguson, we read the Bastards & Boneheads version of it. Excellent book, that is.

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I remember the war, obviously, but I don't remember another thing about it.

The man had every right to be depressed. Sheesh, he doesn't even look happy in the Lincoln memorial.

Well, it wasn't a popular war to begin with, especially not in the north, where it was primarily fought.

American schools like the Battle of New Orleans a great deal.

They don't talk much about the defeats in Canada.

Of course, like all early American wars, we lost a bunch of campaigns, but we won the pivotal battles that mattered, by hook or by crook. When we negotiated, we weren't sending in lords born into wealth, but, instead, we sent shrewd businessmen and lawyers that lived or died by their ability to negotiate for years before they got involved in politics. And those shrewd lawyers and businesmen were heavily underestimated by the arrogant Europeans.

However, the battle that really won the war was in Baltimore, and on the ground it was won thanks to an anonymous sniper that soon died after his victory shot. In the sea, the huge armada of British warships couldn't breach the defenses that had been hastily constructed by the city and citizens of Baltimore.

Three cheers for Baltimore!

We wouldn't want to traumatize the little ones now would we? Thing is, why would you teach first graders anything more than "George Washington was the first President. Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President. They did very important things for America. Now, who wants snack?"

When they're old enough to really comprehend what America is, what politics are, what the Revolutionary and Civil Wars were - that's when they're old enough to also understand that our leaders aren't perfect, they are real people. And sometimes real people have problems.

I was a substitute teacher for 5 years when my children were small. I don't ever recall having to teach any of the littles (k - 3 was my specialty) much about US history except to do simple lessons around Presidents' Day. I sure didn't tell them outright fairy tales, either.

Man, can we talk about the War of 1812 some more? The best I ever got about it was that nobody won, but it just became not worth the effort.

I grew up in a town named after the leader of the American fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie -- touted (in America) as (a) the battle that turned the tide in that war; and (b) the first defeat inflicted on the British Navy. I'm faskinated now.