Oh Dennis. I wish I were stretching the truth. I've been very concerned for a while on the 'lack' of fundamental history much less the good stuff. There are some teachers who will go the extra mile and fill in some of the gaps but not that many. I know of one man, an author himself on historical matters, who was an editor for Harcourt history textbooks who just couldn't stand the omission of fact so he started his own publishing company in Alabama. I'm at the point where I just believe maybe instead of letting the kids watch the current films, we ought to force feed em John Wayne or the Disney version of the Davey Crockett series. At least they'd have some clue. As it is now, they think Ben Franklin was a Prez. A Teacher told her class that Jefferson was one of the founders but was never President!!! I was in the room when she said it. I stopped what I was doing and looked at her, guess she sort of got the idea that I may want to add to her history lesson cause she asked me if she was right. There, in front of the class, she asked me if she was correct. I had to tell her NO, she was not correct. Then I went out into the hall and started banging my head on the wall.

Here, our 4th Grade History lessons are on Florida History. When I've subbed in those classes I try as much as I can to turn the lessons into history lessons. I will admit the teachers have a huge overload with so many new mandated things this year but, we are in big trouble. We also have a large number of children who have one or both parents in the military so I can see if they're a bit confused on Florida's info. It's the National info that is scary. They do not know it. When I tell them the property the school is on was once the 'range' my GGrandfather and my Grandfather rounded up cattle on they just don't get the concept. They are more concerned because I said we did not have a tv til I was 10 or 11 and no air conditioning in the home I grew up in. They think that's bad. They don't get that it was 'typical'.

If we want our children to know anything about the history of this country, the world and even our little area in that world, we have to teach it ourselves. Big Bro starts the teaching in the 1960's and that's not a nice place to begin. When people who go through the system the correct way to get citizenship, they know more of American History than the average high school student in today's world.

Pam