Ihope all of my readers are as upset as I am about the fact that verylittle, if any of America’s history is taught anymore in our publicschools. I find that deeply disturbing. Young people today can tellyou next to nothing about our past involving our Native Americans,the revolution, our founding fathers, the Mexican war, the Alamo, theIndian battles, the two World Wars and most of the more recent wars,names of important people from our past and the events, discoveriesand inventions that made them famous. They don’t know dates andlocations of those famous events, and worse, they don’t care. Thatis wrong, devastating and sad. 

ThroughKelsey Grammer, Pete Hegseth, Rob Lowe and other TV personalities,the channel called Fox Nation provides dramatic reenactments of someof America’s historical events, with full and accurate costuming tomatch the time period, and detailed information about the where, whenand why of those events. It is all done in a very exciting andentertaining way that any young person would enjoy watching while atthe same time, learning real history.

        

        Thesedocudramas include the Boston Tea Party, George Washington’scrossing of the icy Delaware at Christmas time in order to surpriseEnglish troops during the Revolution, Civil War reenactments, variousstories about the World Wars in which America was involved, as wellas detailed stories about the early years of discoveries and wealthand well known builders of this nation as the industrial revolutionexploded across the land through names like the Rockefellers, theCarnegies, the Vanderbilts, the Astors and Henry Ford. Yes, withwealth you usually also find corruption, but it is all part of therich history of America, and it is people like those above who,through our unique freedom and democracy, made us the strongest,richest nation in the world. And there is nothing wrong with that. Wemust strive to keep that pride and strength at all costs, andlearning our history is all part of that.

 

        Yes,this country made a lot of grievous mistakes as it grew, and yes,there was and still is greed and racism and all the wrong things thatcome with learning how to cope with the unusual freedoms with whichwe have been gifted. But just as a little child has to learn not todo things that will hurt them, and how wrong it is to lie, to steal,to hurt others, our nation has had to learn such things on a muchbigger scale. But how can our future generations learn from history’smistakes if they are not taught that history at all?

        Youcannot ignore history. It is real, and it is both wonderful and sad,something to be proud of in so many ways, and something to be ashamedof in just as many ways. To teach that history and all its faults isnot to offend or insult, but rather to show our young people how wegot where we are and how and why all the wrong things happened andhow we can learn from that and correct all the wrong.

 

        Throughthe new part-time job I work now, I have to watch short videos aboutdiversity, equity and inclusion, three words we hear talked aboutthrough our schools, on the news, and now, often, through our jobs.It is through this nation’s history that a new generation has comeup with this way of teaching how to correct our past mistakes andmisconceptions about other races and cultures. That’s okay. But whynot also teach our youth things from the past that led to thisnecessity? 

 

        Don’tforget that understanding our history and being truthful about pastwrongs can we teach a new outlook on life and other cultures. We haveto make our young people understand that there is nothing wrong withtelling the truth, nothing wrong with learning the details ofAmerica’s history. So much of it, and so many of our founders andinventors and explorers can bring out our patriotism and pride, aswell as a desire to make things even better, more fair, more equaland accepting.

        Ihope you will encourage your children and grandchildren to learn thetruth … not the political, slanted versions we hear on networknews, but the real truth. Make it exciting for them. Whenever theycan watch reenactments of famous events, discoveries, people,inventions, and the wild action that was the settling of America, letthem watch and learn things like the gold rush, the land rush inOklahoma, the era of stagecoaches and the Pony Express, the telegraphsystem, the growth of our great cities, the building of thetranscontinental railroad, the Hoover Dam, the truth about how ourNative Americans were treated, our most famous explorers and the morefamous Native American leaders and wars. Let them watch and learn.Today we can stream just about anything we want to watch. It is easynow to go back and watch an old tv miniseries, like James Michener’sCENTENNIAL and ROOTS. If our children are not going to be properlytaught history at school, then use entertaining tv shows/miniseriesto teach them. Give them books to read. Some of the best books thattruthfully and realistically show the history of the French &Indian Wars that led to the Revolutionary War are by Alan Eckert –THE FRONTIERSMEN, A SORROW IN OUR HEART: The Life of Tecumseh,WILDERNESS EMPIRE, THE CONQUERORS, THAT DARK AND BLOODY RIVER,GATEWAY TO EMPIRE and more. These stories are historically accurateand written in a very active, entertaining way, so much so that it islike reading a novel.

         Ihope you understand the importance of American History and its impactnot just on the past and the present, but on this country’s future.Our youth can only make things better today and tomorrow, but foryears to come if they learn and understand the past. Learning can bea tool used toward greater strength and a stronger tomorrow.