Having taught U.S. History for the past fifteen years, I have come to the conclusion rote learning is the key to any sort of education "reform." It's all well and good to sit about the coffee shop, smoking cig...Oh I forgot. We no longer live in a free country.
As I was saying, in order to be able to gas on and on about the significance of let's say, the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, it would be helpful to know whom Messrs Monroe and Roosevelt were. I am of the opinion (not "feeling," as we think thoughts and feel stomach aches) the elementary and secondary years are best spent learning the who, what, when, and where...so as to be able to speak substantively to the why and how at college, or around the supper table.
Need proof? Without fail, I've been able to repeat the following experiment on the first day with every single U.S. History class I've ever taught:
Teacher: "Who can tell me who Jefferson Davis was?"
Class: (fill in the sound of crickets, with one or two exceptions)
Teacher: "Hum...Let's see...How about Harriet Tubman?"
Class: (in unison) "Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Morris! Pick me! Pick me!"
Lucid proof of the political indoctrination those students had previously suffered.
Patriotic Texts
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