Anthony, I used to think that when I retired I'd like to teach history at our local high school; maybe not full-time, maybe on a "guest lecturer" basis. I thought that would be a way in which I could share my Civil War research with the young folks. My sister-in-law has been a schoolteacher in Arkansas for nearly 30 years, and after hearing her complain about how much teaching had changed over the years, I decided against trying to put up with the nonsense.

My son-in-law minored in history at the University of Central Arkansas several years ago. He said the professor who taught the Civil War period was a crack-pot from out of state, who demonized the Confederate side, and taught that the war was a completely racially-motivated event. Students who begged to differ were badly treated by this clown -- so much for universities being bastions of free speech and academic inquiry.

One thing that makes this message board so valuable is that students and other folks can read it and judge for themselves just what the war was all about, and not just be force-fed the currently fashionable theories.