Are you smarter than Mrs. B's students?

Can't disagree with that, pall, but the anti-intellectualism in this country is astounding. From the time you start school, you're ostracized if you're smart. Somehow, "know-it-all" became a bad thing. I'll never understand why. And considering that the world seems to operate remarkably like an eighth-grade locker hallway between morning classes, plenty of adults still hold onto that mentality.

I can't help but wonder if our priorities are straight if we're put off more by the second group you name than the first group. I think the more incentive people have to "know it all" -- or at least keep trying to "learn it all" -- the better off we all are.

 

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog

 

I think we have two differing opinions on here. history is important. It should be taught in school and there are just some things you need to know. With that being said, not everyone is going to go college, become a writer or continue to want to learn. Some people graduate high school and go to work. They pay bills, start a family and worry about day-to-day things. Do I use the Louisiana Purchase in my everyday work? no. But if I lived there, I think it would be useful to know when it became a state, why people speak French and why there is a French quarter.

Sherman was a brilliant general--but was also an SOB. And if Atlanta doesn't get burned to the ground, it doesn't get rebuilt and become the metropolis it is today.

 

If Sherman doesn't do his march to the sea, I'm not sure the North even wins the Civil War, so that makes it pretty important.
Maybe they would have won without it. I don't know.

 

Sorry I left for a while.

 

Excellent point.

Much of what we experience throught life each day is a direct result of what transpired in the past. By understanding that past, we can better understand today and better plan for the future that lies ahead.

 

I love history, but my schooling in it was appalling. I had one year of American history -- 11th grade and in college I took one semester of American history (Recent American history). I never learned a lot of the things mentioned on this thread in school, but I've sought out books about them.

The area I grew up in was full of Revolutionary War sites but not once did we visit any of them or really learn much about the local connection to the Revolution. I look back on that now as such a missed opportunity to draw kids into history by showing them a local connection.

 

Dammit! I wanted credit from Fenian for having done actual research about the Rebellion!

*sigh*

 

I disagree that Sherman was an SOB. He was a good general who was unfairly vilified. What was he supposed to do? Attend waltzed while traipsing through the South?

Oh, and I think the Chancellorsville questions was no gimme.

 

Here's a simple, scary, comparison. How many questions can you, or Mrs. B's students, get right on the citizenship test we require of immigrants?

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blinstst.htm

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=dcf5e1df53b2f010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD

 

I actually sadly knew about 45 of the first 50. I stopped reading after that...short attention span and all.

 

From scanning the first few, I would get shelled on that test.