Mahlon Erickson
Why Study History
Wed Jul 4 22:47:17 2001


I'm a science teacher (8th & 9th grades) with an avid interest in history. My kids are 10 and 7. We have no TV or VCR. We do have a computer with DVD player so watch movies infrequently (James Bond tonight). Both my kids love to read. They play act. And they can both tell you quite a bit about the Civil War.

My son learned to read from a Civil War uniforms book we purchased while on vacation in Vicksburg. Both kids help me search for graves of Civil war soldiers when we stop at cemeteries. They can both spot Union and Confederate stones from a distance.

Not meaning to brag here. But a large part of the burden for our children's education does fall to the parents. And from my experience, most parents couldn't give squat about their kids lives.

When teaching, I do the same old boring lecture/demonstration to provide the factual material. I do interject humor when possible, but my main thrust is that the students gat the information/background I think they need. THEN we do a lab or some other hands-on activity. Or they will research the topic and write a more in-depth essay/report. Or they will search for answers- internet, books, people living at retirement homes, parents, etc. And later in the year they work on hypothetical problems that require use of the information & concepts they should have learned during the year. They must present the problem, the solution(s) as they see it (them), and the steps to get there. The report must be correctly written.

I have found that the only way to make sure the concepts are learned is the teach across the curriculum. Only then can they see the importance of other subjects in daily life. But this comes from a guy educated at a liberal arts college where the broad view was stressed.

Kids usually will remember what they are taught IN CLASS until they have been tested over the material. Why continue to remember after that? Until parents expose kids to the material in a "family" sort of way., they will have little interest in history.

It is unfortunate.

Mahlon