Let’s Not Do That Again

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

You’ve heard that phrase before, haven’t you? It’s true. “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

This past January, I put my homeschooled sixteen year old into his first ever, college class. We’re trying to get him ready for college, so he either needed to take the SAT subject test in World History or take a college World History class. We thought we’d give it a whirl and let him try out the history class at college.

I thought this would be safe. I thought this would actually be fun. We have spent our many years homeschooling, studying World History and U.S. History. This would probably be easy for my boy. It would be mostly review for him. Maybe the professor would throw in some extra facts we hadn’t gone over to round out his education. We thought this would just be a continuation of our homeschooling. Hey, it’s history. What could go wrong with that?

Apparently, a lot. My boy went to his first class. When he came out I asked him how it went. He nodded his head. It wasn’t too bad he said. The professor introduced the class and reviewed what they would go over. I asked him a few more questions. He said the professor talked about a global economy and how that was important to the world. We needed a global economy. My very conservative ears perked up. “Global economy? Global economy?” We don’t need no stinkin global economy. We’re not globalists. I frowned. Huge red flags popped up in my head. Well this was Monday. The next class would be Wednesday. We’ll give it a chance.

Meanwhile, my son reminded me that we needed to get the book from the bookstore. He already had reading assignments before the next class. Sure, we can get the book. So Tuesday, we got the book. My snoopy little self couldn’t resist cracking open the book when I got home. I like World History. I would peruse the book and see how much I do know about World History. Hah!

The first page, the first paragraphs discussed WHAT the class would be going over. First, it slaughtered Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus wasn’t a man, reading the book, he was painted as an evil monster. There was absolutely NOTHING GOOD about Christopher Columbus. NOTHING!!! To be a proper human being, one should probably not let the name Christopher Columbus pass our lips unless one is cursing the evil monster he was. Sheesh.

I skimmed down the page because I saw the words: World War 2. I read that World War 2 was caused by extreme nationalism. Seriously?!? Nothing about an evil maniac, named Adolf Hitler. I looked farther down the page. Nope. No Hitler mentioned. No World War 2 was caused by extreme nationalism. Alrighty then!

I looked back up on the first page to see that the class would cover obscure Indian tribes, tribes I never even heard of. They would also go into obscure people groups from South America. No, they weren’t going to touch the Incas or Aztecs. No, the book would discuss groups that had no effect on World History.

This was a load of c**p! This was revisionist history! Good grief! I called for my son! This is a load of c**p I tell him. You’re dropping the class. You’ll be taking the SAT subject exam.

“If we don’t know history, we are doomed to repeat it.” If we don’t know the main events of what happened, how can we try and not let it happen again. Rome fell. The greatest, most powerful democratic civilization collapsed, why? Our judicial system comes from there. Shouldn’t we study that and not some obscure Indian tribe that made no effect on human history?

Adolf Hitler was a raving lunatic. Most of Germany did NOT agree with him. In fact, many of his military advisors didn’t want him to start a second world war. That’s a big distinction from “extreme nationalism.”

Our public colleges are rewriting history. Kids coming out of those schools aren’t going to know true history. They won’t see how communism has never worked. They won’t see how globalism is bad. We are seeing the effects of not teaching our kids true history. Our freedoms are slipping away, and the left thinks that’s okay. The left blames Trump, when he actually is for protecting our first amendment rights of free speech.

Be aware, that when your kid goes to a public college, they’re going to study c**p. If you still have them at home, you can still do damage control. Let them know what they will face. Start a conversation with them about real history. If not, “we are doomed to repeat it.”