Recently, while trying to give some reality to their studies of the World War II Battle of Britain, administrators of a school in England told the children that London was being bombed, took them to an air raid shelter, and set off fireworks to make the children believe that they were being attacked.
Now, I grew up next to SAC bases. Bombers flew over my school all the time, and my best friend's farm backed up to the missile fields. We knew that if the balloon went up, we were all toasted cheese. We went through regular and frequent "civil defense" drills, some announced, some unannounced. Basically, they taught us to all get into the basement cafeteria/fallout shelter in the event that the Soviets and the Americans ever came to blows. Even to an elementary school kid, they were sobering reminders that the world is a dangerous place, and the only way to survive was to go down to the lunchroom and sing "This Little Light of Mine" with the 1st graders until the principal re-opened the 3 foot thick concrete and steel doors and let us out to swing on the monkey bars.
But even the unannounced drills didn't include authority figures telling us that Washington was a smoking hole and that we were under actual attack.
I love history. I want my children to love it and learn it as much as or more than I do. But I don't want them to have their wits scared out of them. There are better ways to bring the reality of history to a young person.
If these educators want their students to learn something, why not re-enact the manner in which Londoners sought shelter during the Blitz? Go to London and sleep in the subway stations. Trust me, they'll learn more from one night in the Picadilly Square tube station than they will crying softly in the dark thinking that their families are dead. You might not like what they learn, but trust me, it'll be educational.
Now, I grew up next to SAC bases. Bombers flew over my school all the time, and my best friend's farm backed up to the missile fields. We knew that if the balloon went up, we were all toasted cheese. We went through regular and frequent "civil defense" drills, some announced, some unannounced. Basically, they taught us to all get into the basement cafeteria/fallout shelter in the event that the Soviets and the Americans ever came to blows. Even to an elementary school kid, they were sobering reminders that the world is a dangerous place, and the only way to survive was to go down to the lunchroom and sing "This Little Light of Mine" with the 1st graders until the principal re-opened the 3 foot thick concrete and steel doors and let us out to swing on the monkey bars.
But even the unannounced drills didn't include authority figures telling us that Washington was a smoking hole and that we were under actual attack.
I love history. I want my children to love it and learn it as much as or more than I do. But I don't want them to have their wits scared out of them. There are better ways to bring the reality of history to a young person.
If these educators want their students to learn something, why not re-enact the manner in which Londoners sought shelter during the Blitz? Go to London and sleep in the subway stations. Trust me, they'll learn more from one night in the Picadilly Square tube station than they will crying softly in the dark thinking that their families are dead. You might not like what they learn, but trust me, it'll be educational.
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