It is up to us, as parents and grandparents to teach our own as much as we can. We have seen how rampant the lack of information on the one area of History we talk about here. We have to go on the assumption that the rest of the Nation's struggles are at best, the short version. There is no way a person with no real knowledge of basic American History can make a really informned judgment on who they will vote for. They will always fall for the fancy speech and hearing what they want, not what is best for the entire nation. We are now seeing a new generation of Ameicans. They are going to grow up and vote and I do fear we are going to be in bigger trouble because they are also the 'clueless' generation. Even worse, they don't care. Being a citizen of the United States is not something they can grasp as a gift that is truly special.
The texts don't talk about the war in Mexico much. They really ought to because it gives a good background for the players in our own 'troubled' war a few years later. A bit of information on the relationships and common ground those who later would be officers on both sides in the conflict of our own may give enough to make them wonder why so many gave up so much to go with a cause that was radical to say the least in that day and time. Armed with that type of information, they just might (at least I would hope) understand the conflict that tore this land apart was not based on one simple reason. Most people today under say, 60, probably couldn't tell you who was POTUS before Lincoln and who his VP was that became the POTUS. I talked to a 16 year old the other day. Really eye opening. They only knew the name of 4 of our Presidents. Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy and Obama. They did think Franklin was the second one but weren't sure. He was "on money so he must have been the prez at some time". I kid you not. That is what they said. I wanted to cry. Our young people are being short changed in one of the most important lessons they need when they go out into the world. If this is all they are learning, can we really expect them to understand what an ammendment is?
Pam