History Lessons
This is just great. It costs $100 million to get kids to learn history. Do you think if we just shut off the cartoons and stopped buying newspapers that pride themselves on never surpassing an eigth-grader’s vocabulary, it would still cost as much?
“(The initiative) will give our teachers new tools to teach some of the oldest and most important lessons in history.” – Laura Bush, first lady
Now, that’s an interesting quote. Do history lessons cost more if they are older? Does one measure the success of a history program by how far back into historyit succeeds in going?
Better yet is the helpful way in which AP/CNN explains to us:
The Bush initiative took its name from the Constitution’s opening words “We, the people of the United States … “
As if the targetaudience for this article is ignorant about the significance of “we the people”, yet civic-minded enough to care that we are all set to buy some REALLY OLD history lessons at BARGAIN BASEMENT prices!
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Every month or so,you see someone quoting Santayana; “those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it”. Invariably, people who quote this are trying to argue that a good understanding of history (especially history as they are telling it) will save you from some grave disaster. Unfortunately, this whole train of thought is illogical. Here it is spelled out real simple:
P: All dogs die
P: I am not a dog
C: Therefore, I am immortal
Obviously non-sequitur; and exactly the same as:
P: Those who forget are condemned to repeat
P: I do not forget
C: Therefore, I am not condemned to repeat
That one simple quote is not all that Santayana had to say on the subject. But it’s kind of funny that the quote most-often chosen to support the idea is one which doesn’t, and one whichencourages sloppy critical thinking skills.