The study of history

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Chris 62
The source of this is my own umpublished book on the subject, and I used ONLY offical US army sources.

Well there's a terribly unbiased source.

[Imran Siddiqui]

In fact, the Kingdom of Mali is indirectly responsible for the discovery of America

[Adam Smith]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Did you go to school in 1980? I did. I was in 7th and 8th grade that year. The trush is, rather than school being too easy for kids, most experts today are saying that it is quantitaviely harder for kids, who have workloads far in excess of anything with which their parents had to deal. But that doesn't fit in with the right-wing lie being fostered about America's education.

As a parent who grew up in the same school system my second grade daughter is attending, I must disagree with this statement. My daughter and other older children probably have more homework than I did when I was their age. But it is not at all clear that this is effective instruction. For example, nowhere in the current ciriculum do students learn the 50 states and their capitals. Parents who are concerned about their children's education teach this on their own, in spite of the high taxes paid for the local school system. (edit: This is probably evidenced by declining test scores.) I think this is a more apt description of the conservative critique of many school systems. Also, Africa (and I don't mean just Egypt) did in fact have a history when I was in school, and we covered it as part of a year of world history.

I think I will save other comments for the next education thread.

[Japher]

I remember hearing that New York (or someone) was commisioning a statue to be made of the capturing the events of 9-11. The statue was to be a reenactment of the famos picture of the three fireman holding up the American Flag. I am sure we all know that picture.

I remember that they were going to change the nationalities of two of the fireman, and this became some kind of issue.

Question: Is that a revisionist stance on history? Is this kind of thing that causes revisionism? How do you prevent revionist from changing history from one lie to another?

IMO a lot of reason for revisionism stems from modern issues being addressed, acted on, and then changing the past events accordingly. A lot of had to do with free speach, or changes in power.

The past is so blurred by lies and political propeganda that a lot of it truely is lost.

[Jules]

Originally posted by Lord Merciless


The ultra-leftist, self-loathing intellectuals tore apart the US education systems between the late 60s and late 80s.

For example, a math problem in 1960 would be formed in this way in 1980:

1960: A forest worker sells the trees he fell for $100. His cost was 80% of his selling price. What is his profit?

1980: A forest worker sells the trees he fell for $100. His cost was $80, and his profit $20. Your job here is to UNDERLINE the number "20".

Actually, I would've thought the problem would be formulated this way for 1980:

A forest worker sells the trees he fell for $100. His cost was $80, and his profit $20. Your job here is to write a 5-page essay explaining why the forest worker is a very, very bad man and how he needs to be sent to a government reeducation center for "flora-sensitivity training."

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Adam Smith
My daughter and other older children probably have more homework than I did when I was their age. But it is not at all clear that this is effective instruction.

This supports what I was saying, AS. Workloads on kids has become increasingly difficult, as they are now being mandated by legislatures as opposed to teachers and school boads. Teachers now complain of having no time to teach anything effectively and spend most of their time teaching to the tests that each grade must take to move to the next grade.

I note that the changes in the school system that created this state of affairs was mandated by conservatives.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

In fact, the Kingdom of Mali is indirectly responsible for the discovery of America

When the king of Mali went on the Hadj, he brought unbelievable amounts of gold, much of which was spent in Egypt. This caused massive inflation, and Italian traders decided to get in on the action, selling lots of stuff at Egypt's inflated prices. Suddenly Italy has a lot of money and begins spending it on goods from the far East. They then turn around and make a killing reselling this to Europe. This, in turn, eventually leads the Iberian countries to make their voyages of discovery.

Neat, huh.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Japher
I remember hearing that New York (or someone) was commisioning a statue to be made of the capturing the events of 9-11. The statue was to be a reenactment of the famos picture of the three fireman holding up the American Flag. I am sure we all know that picture.

I remember that they were going to change the nationalities of two of the fireman, and this became some kind of issue.

Question: Is that a revisionist stance on history? Is this kind of thing that causes revisionism? How do you prevent revionist from changing history from one lie to another?

Good questions. The first piece of revisionism I would note is the effort by people like me to correct the "offical" story. In fact that statue was not a copy of the picture, but was based on the picture. Models were used in the creation of the statue, and the picture only gave the sculptor an idea of what he wanted to do. When minorities wanted to be included, lots of people raised a snit, screaming how this would change the historical fact, whitout understanding the historical fact was never part of the statue to begin with.

[MrFun]

Chris62 --

The crimes Hitler committed were atrocities.
The crimes Sadaam committed were atrocities.
The crimes US officers committed in the Phillipines were atrocities.

Even with the US atrocities paling in comparison to other far-worse atrocities, they are all still atrocities.

My point with this, is that calling human atrocities "exsseses" is plain wrong.

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by Jules

Actually, I would've thought the problem would be formulated this way for 1980:

A forest worker sells the trees he fell for $100. His cost was $80, and his profit $20. Your job here is to write a 5-page essay explaining why the forest worker is a very, very bad man and how he needs to be sent to a government reeducation center for "flora-sensitivity training."

No, that would be 1990, when all the Greenies were making their doomsday prognosis.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Che, huh... that is kinda cool . Though it almost sounds like 6 degrees of Christopher Columbus .