Those Who Do Not Learn History....

The story that is linked in the headline is one that interests me because it states some ideas that I have expressed in my classroom and to family and friends. There are those in our society who like the idea that history is dead. They see no reason to learn history, to know history or to take away any lessons from history. I think that's a huge mistake.

And there must be some credence to this because every successful military academy includes a history of war and battles that includes studying the tactics of the ancient Romans, the medieval Turks and the modern Japanese. What bothers me is that in the general population we have children and ADULTS that do not know their own nation's history, nor do they have anything other than a shallow grasp of the history of man. These same people can quote chapter and verse on the latest showing of "Heroes" or tell you the entire genealogy of the kids in "Gossip Girl", but they have no knowledge or interest in obtaining knowledge about the measures that created our modern society.