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This article by Bill Bodden of Redmond was published in The Bulletin (Bend) in October 2003 The article "Fordham Institute gives state public schools a ‘D’ in history" (Sept. 23) should be of concern to parents and others with an interest in preventing the decline of this nation. However, since most parents would very likely get an ‘F’ for their knowledge of history they are probably indifferent to this evaluation. In a sidebar to the article Keith Johnson, Jefferson County School District curriculum director, opined "I don't think our program in Oregon is deficient in teaching the history of Oregon, the history of the U.S. and the basic history that's been taught in Oregon for the last 40 years." These four decades coincided with warnings about the dumbing down of America, and his statement explains why so many adults know so little history. Evidence of that deficit was made abundantly clear in mainstream newspapers prior to the invasion of Iraq. Many correspondents and several columnists tried to demonstrate that history from Hitler’s Germany was being replicated by Saddam Hussein. More informed readers recognized these would-be pundits didn’t know what they were talking about. On the other hand, these same commentators were ignorant of or chose to ignore practices in the early years of Nazi Germany that should have given people concern about the propaganda used to promote this war. Similarly, the occupations of Germany and Japan after World War II were translated as models for Iraq by people failing to recognize that Germany and Japan in 1945 were entirely different propositions from Iraq in 2003. If a study were made of Europeans’ knowledge of history it would mostly likely show them to be better informed than Americans. This suggests a reason why majorities in Europe opposed the war on Iraq while an American majority supported it. Another factor would include a greater willingness to be lied to on this side of the Atlantic. Europeans, for the most part, have a better understanding of the pursuits of empire - Roman and Ottoman, Peloponnesian and Napoleonic wars, Hitler’s Third Reich, European colonialism in Africa, Asia and South America, etc. - and that they ultimately proved to have disastrous consequences for innumerable people if not the empire builders. Most Europeans are more aware than Americans of the barbarism that resulted from religious leaders going on local and international crusades to force their interpretations of their bible on others. Accordingly, they are properly repelled by calls from leaders with a Messianic zeal to remodel other societies and nations. Europeans do not want modern versions of the civil wars, Inquisitions and other persecutions that afflicted or were inflicted by their ancestors for centuries. These historical experiences and lessons learned are among the reasons why enthusiasm for empire has dissipated among the people of Europe, if not their corporations. The contrary desire among Americans for empire (albeit in a corporate form) is probably attributable to an inherent aggressiveness untempered by historical knowledge. When it comes to history, most Americans are like members of tribal groups in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and other troubled areas. They suffer from bad political memories. The difference is that these tribal groups dwell on incidents that happened generations and centuries ago; whereas, Americans have a problem remembering events beyond a couple of weeks unless they were given prominence by major television media such as on 9/11 or at a Superbowl. This attention deficit disorder in history abets proponents of wars and other misadventures in getting away with saying one thing one day and the opposite a few weeks later. Their compliant supporters deserve an ‘A’ for loyalty but an ‘F-’ for judgment. If students now in school don’t acquire a better grasp of history, they and other victims will have to bear the cost of future follies and risk becoming 21st Century versions of cannon fodder. In this regard there appears to be little justification for optimism other than the historical habit of Americans responding to wake-up calls when the consequences of their sloth and neglect become blatantly obvious. |
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