The other day, as I was driving home, I was listening to my favorite talk show on the radio.  Yes, I know that makes me seem incredibly boring.  But with two small boys, about the only time I can catch the news (and the much-needed weather this time of year) is via the radio.

So I was listening to the talk show and I learned a piece of information that stunned me so badly, I almost forgot to make my turn. 

Were you all aware that there is a large percentage of the young adult population that does not realize Titanic was a real event?

It's true, I swear!  There were Twitter posts indicating this all over the place on the day of Titanic's anniversary.  Young adults have missed the proverbial boat somewhere.  They're too wrapped up with movies, and believed this was just another James Cameron box office hit.

This very much saddens me.  As someone who thrives on history, I teach my boys regularly about different events in our history even if I'm fully aware of the fact it may not make complete sense until they are older.  My eldest knows why Pearl Harbor was bombed, and while he loves the movie for it's action and the dogfights in the air, he knows it wasn't just a glamorous Hollywood fiction.

He's six.  Why do folks three times his age have no clue about the events that happened in our world in what is still the modern era?

Are high school teachers really not teaching these things?  I find that hard to believe.  My HS professor was amazing.  But then again, my history class was accelerated and we covered a lot more than I think conventional classes might.  I couldn't say for certain, and add in the fact that this was... a while... ago... it wouldn't particularly surprise me to learn otherwise.

Well surprise, yes it would.  But I do understand times change.

We, as a society, however are losing our history.  If this is the trend amongst the youth, where is that going to leave us in another forty years when these young men and women obtain positions of political power or influential assignments? 

I'll tell you where that leaves us -- exactly in the position Rome was in when she began to fail.

The writing on the wall is screaming out in bright crimson -- teach your kids these things, folks.  Even if they roll their eyes and grumble, fill in the gaps.  Find out what they are not learning in the classroom, and educate them about the events that took place in your lifetime.  Otherwise, as the old saying goes, history will repeat itself.  For those of you who know -- that won't be a pretty sight.

~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com

Labels: Musings