Happy Bastille Day!
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I always hated history as a child, and I've discovered over the years that I really don't know a lot about anything that happened prior to, like, 1996.
In all seriousness, though, if it didn't happen in the United States and it wasn't The Holocaust, we didn't really learn about it in school. Our history curriculum was awful.
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First they "got rid of the whiskey", then they went to the Bastille to set free less than 10 unimportant prisonners...or something like that
And beheaded the governor of the prison/bastion, even though he had surrendered without much of a fight. They probably shouldn't teach the real history of that day.
The storming of the Bastille is more symbolic than really important. I'm fine with the way it's taught. I remember spending more time on "why ?" and "what after ?" than on the events themselves.
Good gawd! What a hungover!
Ah, I nearly told you on Facebook that the mix curaçao, vodka red wine might not be good for you
I always hated history as a child, and I've discovered over the years that I really don't know a lot about anything that happened prior to, like, 1996.
In all seriousness, though, if it didn't happen in the United States and it wasn't The Holocaust, we didn't really learn about it in school. Our history curriculum was awful.
While I don't disagree with you in general about the priorities and overall state of US history education (though I think you're exaggerating the focus a bit), the French Revolution was given a fair bit of coverage when I went to school.
Yes, I am indeed exaggerating, but I honestly don't ever remember learning about the French Revolution. If I did, it was only in passing. My school district, for whatever reason, focused on the Civil War and The Holocaust every single year all the way through junior high. In high school the only history class I took was US History. I never had to take any kind of world history class.
We prefer to have our parades in other people's countries and let THEM clean up the mess.
(I suspect part of the reason why we don't have parades is a lack of a place to stage them. Have you seen the state of American cities recently? Who wants to see the tanks roll through a commercial strip if they aren't going to do us a favor and blast them to smithereens?
)
Well, maybe it's time to, oh I dunno, read a book? I just don't get it "I'm really ignorant about one of the most basic knowledge of human culture. Oh well, too bad." I mean, come on.
That's not a curriculum. It's a crime.
Besides, these days, it's quite easy to remedy a lack of basic knowledge.
Considering I discuss topics of history almost never, my ignorance of the subject isn't exactly something that I often think about.
I am exaggerating my ignorance a bit (because I enjoy hyperbole), but there do seem to be a lot of events that have slipped through the cracks. As an adult now, however, I find myself annoyed at the things I don't know. I kind of wish I could take a World History class now and try and get up to speed; I just don't want to do homework or take tests.
I also have issues of memory retention when I read. I can read just fine, but I have always had problems remembering what I read. In college I would often read chapters for homework, have a complete comprehension of them while I was reading them, and then have absolutely no idea what the chapter was about the next day.
Homework and tests or quizzes of some sort can help you to understand and retain the material better. So does thinking about it on your own and discussing it with others. I actually find the BBS to be a nice jumping off place for me to learn a lot.
Like others have said, it's easy to remedy ignorance these days. If you want to learn, just try one of these links:
A Crash Course in World History
100 Free Courses to Teach Yourself World History
MIT OpenCourseware: History
Those look like some interesting and cool links. Do you have some recommendations on similar courses concerning economics?
If you go to the MIT link, it looks like they also have econ courses. Openculture.com has a page for free econ courses but I can't tell you if these are any good or interesting! I'm sure something in there is good.
Edit: a search on OpenCulture turns up a variety of promising links, so searching on that site might be a good start.
Khan Academy has some good economics courses amongst many other subjects.
http://www.khanacademy.org/
You and your Khan Academy.
Thanks!
He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him!
Thanks, Kestra, I may just have to check those links out (some day, when I actually have time to do something other than go to work).
The thing about ignorance is that you don't really know what you don't know until it comes up and you realize you don't know it. The other day I had to teach a 25-year old woman the definition of "cunnilingus." She had never heard it before. That was a fun conversation, to say the least.
The thing about ignorance is that you don't really know what you don't know until it comes up and you realize you don't know it. The other day I had to teach a 25-year old woman the definition of "cunnilingus." She had never heard it before. That was a fun conversation, to say the least.
