While touring historical sites, we ran into multiple instances of adults either being idiots or forgetting what it was like to be a kid (take your pick). For example:
- Two boys, probably 10 or 11, were bored to tears in the Valley Forge historical museum. A couple of adults, directly behind my right shoulder, talked about what ungrateful little brats they were.
- At Gettysburg, there was a man dragging his kid (I’d estimate about 14) around to look at monuments. They kid was so bored he was playing with sticks — and swinging from one monument (and his father, who was the one who wanted to be there, apparently didn’t find that a problem).
- Another father was yelling at his kids at Gettysburg because they were bored.
What’s wrong with these people? Have they completely forgotten what it was like to be a kid? Sure, I know how important all of those historical sites are, but I’m not a kid anymore. Why would they bore their kids by dragging them around to see something they’re not capable of appreciating?
Teach kids history in a way they’ll appreciate. Tell them the stories. Get them historical or military strategy games. Buy them action figures, and use them to tell these kids what’s behind them. But don’t drag your kids around to look at memorials. There isn’t a better way to make them hate history.
Peggy U says:
Hell, get them a video game! I know there have to be Civil War themed games. My oldest boy got a game called Medieval II - Total War, in which he can recreate historical battles. After he started playing the game, he wanted to know more about the battles and the characters involved, so he started reading. He’s collected a few books on medieval warfare as a result, and he’s much more knowledgeable of European history. I am sure that if he even got to look at an empty field where a battle took place, he’d appreciate it now.
July 25, 2007, 4:09 pmDarren says:
http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2005/01/computer-games-and-education.html
July 29, 2007, 4:18 pm