How WWII Taught In School Today

Now that would be something worth seeing!!! Make them all wear Fredrich Youth uniforms!!

 

Nathan, your school might benefit from a visit by a veteran. Take a look at this article in the War Stories thread about a Doolittle Raider who recently visited with some of your fellow Ohio students. Could you arrange a similar visit at your school?

Your local VFW or other veterans organizations may be willing to serve as a contact between your teachers and veterans who are willing to meet with your class and discuss their experiences. If you can find the veterans, ask your teachers to invite them to meet with your class to discuss their wartime experiences.

 

Excellent idea, Crapgame!

Someone from the resistance came to our (primary) school and told about the war one afternoon. That made a great impression on everyone.

Fried, is this something that you will do in your class? Maybe ask you granddad?

 

For one point, every teacher is different. Unfortunatley, sometimes people just get a crappy history teacher. Can happen in any subject... I think one solution would be more emphasis on finding GOOD teachers, not just anyone who will take the job. Maybe pay teachers a bit more?!

But...

This accounts for 95% of the problems facing teachers today. Since SO much emphasis has been put on standardized testing and fulfilling requirements, there winds up being very little time for anyting else. Keep in mind, because of Bush's whole "No Child Left Behind" program, the funding for school districts is based directly on their performance in standardized tests. Teachers are forced to spend the majority of their time preparing students for the tests, and little room is left for a lot of the really neat stuff some of us older people remember from school. I'm only 28- but I can remember back in school there was never this kind of emphasis on standardized tests.
As a case in point- anyone heard the currently popular nickname among teachers for "No Child Left Behind"?
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"No Teacher Left Employed"

 

True, true, and ofcourse it's not only history that suffers from the standardized testing. All of my other classes suffer from it also.

I also agree with the part about finding better teachers to do the job. The Senior American Government teacher told me that Akron, Ohio, was bombed very heavily during the Vietnam War. Once again, when I told him that I had never heard of that (not to mention that it was totally impossible), he basically told me that I was stupid.

 

Over here I think the problem is much the same, my brother says that his history teachers teach because they have to not because they want to, that is to say that what they teach they tech because its on a piece of paper that they have to, not because they find it interesting etc. It also means that they have to teach everyone equally, where as before it was far easier to teach kids who wanted to learn whatever their ability. By way of an example, in my classes we sometimes get kids who are not particularly good at the subject but want to be, they tend to go into the lower ability groups and hense are stuck with kids who are there because they are irritating and dont want to learn, hense the kid that does want to learn suffers. Without the curriculum and the 'help everybody' thing, it is easier for the kid to learn without trouble caused by others. I am a great believer in ditching kids who dont want to learn mainly because I an fed up of being in classes with them, that is why I had to teach myself maths for 3 years.

 

ahaha... Friedrich youth uniforms with Armbands with some kind of emblem on them. Everytime u finish a sentence they all say: "HEIL. HEIL. HEIL" for no particular reason at all.

 

OK. I like the uniforms idea.

And the veteran suggestion is indeed a great option. And of course I had already thought about that. The problem is, Stevin that I can't use my grandfather for that. As you know, he is unable to speak because of the Russian bullet in his troath...

And I do not do it for the money. I really don't need it. Tha pay is low, $20 dollars per class and I might give some 36 classes a week. That's 2.880 dollars a month (which I can make them singing one night) But the joy of teaching is the reason!

 

Euh...Fried...do you need to have some kind of (Mexican) teaching credential in Mexico?

No wonder Holland has a too few teachers; they are all in Mexico!

Oh, and I have decided to become a singer too....

I know about your granddad but maybe you could have hiom answer questions writing with the help of a computer???? I know I enjoyed doing that!

 

No, Stevin. Credentials of any kinds are needed. It is just that I quite impressed the subject coordinator and the school director/principal. That is why I was not asked for an university tittle. There are using me as an experiment... "Could a 19-year-old boy teach and handle 15-17-year-old boys?"

Well, I hadn't thought about that possibility on my grandfather, but I think I'd rather use someone else...

 

I think that my teachers are really smart about the wars and history, but they only get so much time to teach it, and then we have to waste time on other things. But we can do extra assignments, like this year I was able to do somthing on the air war, got me extra 5% to report card, but next year I will be doing the J block extra credit thing where I believe I will put a book together on WW2 and I can earn up to 10 extra credits, and I think ill need forum help on that assignment

 

When I was in Maryland I talked a little with John Michael Priest he is the author of "Antietam: A Soldier's Battle" and numerous other titles. He is a high school history teacher and he made the comment that in California they aren't allowing teachers to say anything about Pearl Harbor or any other aspect of the Pacific War because it would offend the Japanese.

It really sucks what is happening to history being taught in the U.S.

Greg

 

You think it's bad here in Japan all they teach is Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Offending the japaneese as an excuse not to teach history is stupid. If they find that offensive what about the vetrans who suffered in the POW camps. I think that they would be offended if we didn't teach history.

 

That is one thing I am thankful for, over here the education system does not make concessions to avoid offence (well, except in Religious Education where you can get in trouble for arguing against religions, oh well). For example we learn about the Free India campaign, including Amritsar and other colonial crimes. Sure I find it offensive, I find it offensive that my people could do such a thing, but I am damned if I am going to forget it happened.

 

Reddog I agree with you there and Mr. Priest also mentioned how in Japan they don't teach anything about WWII and that most Japanese think they were allied with the US during WWII. Also don't forget Nanking or Manila where they massacred civilians like crazy.

Stefan I see what you mean about being offended about what your country did and how you wouldn't forget. He mentioned that history should be offensive so we don't repeat the same mistakes.

Unfornately there's more of a feel good attitude with regards to history.

Greg

 

Greg, Robert E Lee said 'It is good that war is so terrible lest we grow fond of it' or words to that effect, I think that applies to general history as well.

 

Stefan --please check the quote below--it is Lee's.
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[ 21. June 2003, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

 

Sure is, I read it ages ago and have always thought that he was spot on. Lee was a great man indeed.

 

I always thought that as well. Growing up--I did a lot of reading about General Robert Edward Lee.

Here is a fact for you. Did you know that he had been picked as the most beloved General of all time? Yep--and that was publishe da few years or so ago in the Military History Magazine.

Also--back in I think 1993-1994--he was also chosen as America's most beloved General--even over George Washington.

One of my descendants--who was a Colonel in the Confederate Cavalry (Lost his arm at Shiloh--that's Pittsburg Landing--to Yankees ) he had served with Lee when Lee was on a Staff at the beginning of the war. He was my great great great Uncle.

BTW--after the Civil War, my great great great Uncle was also the Sherrif of Dodge City but I don't know how long.

 

Well, how is WW2 tought in My school?

Well, luckily I attend a Jesuit school, this year my social studies class was geography (coincidently, last year i finished 15th in the state geo bee)

anyways, the teacher, and friend Mr. Traughber did a good job of portraying WW2 whenever we breezed over it in relavence to geography.

Except for once:

When he tried to say that the Japanese Entered WW2 because they attacked Vietnam and France Declared War on them. Then he said the Japanese got caught up in a guerilla war in Indochina.

This is when i made him let me teach the class about Japanese entry into the war.


But i have it good, my friends that attend the local public school learned about WW2 by playing RISK.


CvM