oh, you want a pair...
I'm gonna have a hard time as a history teacher. I taught (as a substitute, mind you) the Vietnam war today and we watched a video. I could have just "taught by Push Play", BUT...
The video was on the sixties, and it said:
The President lied in order to gain unprecedented power to wage war overseas.
The American Public woke up slowly but surely in opposition to this war.
The war was allegedly about "Communism," but eventually came to be seen as a power grab by the American Government overseas.
Protests were shown with signs that read, "Support the troops. Bring them home."
And don't even get me started about McNamara versus Rummy. I mean it. Do not get me started.
I live in Alabama, which even now is a rosy mauve in terms of Presidential support, and believe me, there are in my class some Fox News disciple true believers. I actually had a student speak up to defend "our President" for "holding our country together." And I did not smack her silly. Really.
What I did, which as a sub was pretty risky, was just ask, during the video, "Does this sound familiar?" and let them come to their own conclusions. And some did. But one student said, "All those deferments would drive me crazy! I'd rather just go to Vietnam and get it over with." And I did not smack him silly. Really. "Get it over with." I guess he meant his life on this earth. Huh.
I guess I'm going to have this problem my entire teaching career. The temptation to proslytize politics, well, not even that. I know my students will never be Democrats and I have no interest in banging my head against that wall. but I do want to tell them the truth and help them make connections between historical events and think critically about that.
I thought about what if I was not just a substitute teacher how would I handle all of this and thought, maybe I would assign a "Then and Now" bulletin board where students could make all these connections themselves and I had this horrible vision of the burning Twin Towers in the middle of the "Now" half of the project. As if that has anything to do with Iraq, but of course, it does have everything to do with how we all got fooled again.
Blue Gal, I appreciate your dedication to educating our teens,BUT, I'd have bitch slapped the girl!
ReplyDeletei dunno about the comparison of McNamara to Rummy.
ReplyDeleteas it turns out, Mac has a soul. It showed up very very late, but he's got one.
You're right, Sly. McNamara actually comes off very well in the video, as someone who saw the writing on the wall earlier than anyone else in the White House. But in 1968 he looked a lot like Rummy does today. How could we update Rummy's look? Now that would make for some good photoshopping....
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sly on this one. McNamara does have a soul. If you were showing your class The Fog of War, Mac comes off very well.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, it took time to change minds about Viet Nam. We, as a nation, tend to abdicate responsibility to others -- we tend toward laziness and we're easily lulled to sleep with distractions (television, in particular).
Viet Nam was brought to us in living color every night on the news. Body counts were the norm. Some people became numb, others took to the streets.
Anyway, the point of this is that we changed more minds by educating people with facts and truth than we did with bitch slapping.
My son, who also went to Brandeis, is a university professor. I applaud all teachers!
BG...this post kinda made me sad. What percentage of the students would you say, "didn't get it." And can someone explain to me...yes, I'll stereotype here because I'm fucking tired of walking on eggshells...but explain to me the connection between "openly, practicing Christian," and wanting/needed/supporting/believing blindly in war?
ReplyDeleteAgain, not all Christians support this war or any other. I'm not talking about the exceptions to the rule or the smaller percentages. I'm talking about Bush support, therefore war support, in red states that are predominantly Bible-belt areas.
I'm super hungover so excuse me if this doesn't make any sense :-)
I know it says I posted this last night at five but actually I posted it this morning at 7. The fact that ANY of us are up and talking about McNamara is a miracle.
ReplyDeleteI have the best readers in the blogosphere, bar none.
My 2yo just handed me a tub of margarine. Is this a clue of some kind? Mommy needs more coffee, too.
i think some video of a physical rehab center would work wonders for at least leting the kid that said he'd rather just go see what might be in store if he makes it back.
ReplyDeletethen, at least, if he feels he must,then, he would be going informed.
We're teaching Jake American History from Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States. Think you could get away with that?
ReplyDeleteI'm in agreement with Ariadne. Holding back truthful explanation from students would be too difficult as a history teacher.
ReplyDeleteThe most troubling aspect of this scenario is that a friend of mine teaches history and is a hardcore Republican.
Be careful!
ReplyDeleteThe systems around here are VERY CONSERVATIVE, if you haven't noticed. I, like you, would have a big tendency to wear my politics on my sleeve.
One of the reason I know I couldn't teach high school history is that I couldn't neuter myself. High school is too rigidly defined by bland people who state no official position.
True, I think that you should change the standard, but do be careful.
This is why I enjoyed college history much more. My teachers could actually teach and actually state agendas. They had freedom.
Suburban white kids from the south are raised by the sorts of families who go to the Baptist church and watch Fox News. Most people I went to high school with remind me of Jeff Sessions. Pissant.
If I ever teach, I will teach college. period.
And keeping in line with the comments above i will add a question (rhetorical of course :>)
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think Bush is cutting the Pell Grant money?
My answer- High school they got wrapped up for the next one hundred years until the Iraq war is rewritten, but it is the colleges and universities that offer the youth (and more) of this nation a true glimpse of the past (mostly) and that is an affront to the establishment. The truth is deadly to government on either side of the aisle...
Fine post Blue Gal...Methinks a poem is brewing due to its substance... Thank you.
Blue Gal a poem for you my friend. you know where to find it...:>)
ReplyDeleteBeege, you do know you're setting yourself up to be one of those 'dangerous academics indoctrinating our kids with Communism', right? The idea of teaching that subject scares me. Especially where you're located. Bless you.
ReplyDelete