May 28, 2004
The Greatest Jenarayshun
The current generation fails to learn the lessons of the greatest generation...
Long a pet peeve, US students show a stunning lack of knowledge about the most formative event of the last 100 years - the Second World War.
It's somewhat unfair to criticize solely the current generation - in offices around the nation, one could ask the simple "Name three countries the US fought in World War Two" and for the most part is unlikely to hear two out of three correct answers, at least not without an avalanche of wrong answers preceding. GenX is hardly more enlightened than GenNext.
What they do appear to be learning about World War Two are social aspects - segregation of the armed forces, Japanese internment camps, and gender worplace integration. While certainly germaine to the discussion, they most certainly are ancillary to the War itself.
World War Two holds valuable lessons, but only if taught. Where is the emphasis on national socialism? On appeasement? Do today's students know that but for the appeasement of Germany, some perhaps 35+ million people may not have perished? Do they understand the context of peace at any price, of "peace in our time"? Do they understand unconditional surrender and the Allies insistence upon it? But for that, would there still be a Nazi government in Germany, a military oligarchy in Imperial Japan? Do they know about Roosevelt's insistence on helping the Allies despite domestic pressure? Do they know the full context of the politics of the war?
Lessons paid at so high a price must be taught, it is far too soon for them to be forgotten.
Posted by MEC2 at May 28, 2004 09:16 AM