Does Iraq=Vietnam? Our Kids Won't Know

There was a very interesting column in USA Today today about the poor quality of history textbooks in this country. Specifically, it argues that most high schoolers are woefully unprepared to evaluate the current situation in Iraq and the comparisons being made between it and US involvement in Vietnam. The treatment of Vietnam is current textbooks is just woefully inadequate to equip them for the task.

I've always argued that the greatest disservice in history education in this country involves the Civil War, but just about any "recent" event gets short shrift as well. They suffer from a combination of being diluted of any real meaning to avoid controversy and of being crammed in at the end of the book for most kids. As a result, not only to kids leave school not knowing what they need to know about their history, but they are indoctrinated into the "history is just a series of boring dates to memorize" mindset that turns many of them off from every thinking about it again.

That does neither the kids nor the country any favors. It's trite to say that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. It's not quite that simplistic, in my opinion. However, what has gone before constantly shapes and effects what goes on today. Without the tools or the interest to analyze their own history as well as the history of others, the next generation will be at a severe disadvantage. And the country will suffer because of it.