History without war

Joanne Jacobs links to a Washington Post article that discusses the teaching of WW2 in American schools. Not a lot of time devoted to it (or to history in general, I would add), and there seems to be a pronounced swing towards social history -- which ends up being trees, no forest.

Among 76 teenagers interviewed near their high schools this week in Maryland, Virginia and the District, recognition of the internment camps, a standard part of every area history curriculum, was high -- two-thirds gave the right answer when asked what happened to Japanese Americans during the war. But only one-third could name even one World War II general, and about half could name a World War II battle.

Jacobs opines, "Rosie the Riveter has trumped Patton", but I'd say that understates the case. At least Rosie was a heroic figure.

Posted by David on June 2, 2004 1:39 PM