Yesterday...

eff Jacoby actually wrote a column decrying the lamentable historical ignorance of American High School students without once mentioning Teacher's Unions!!!

Geezus what times we do live in!!!

Well, let me add a few unrequested comments, I can always mount up my favorite hobbyhorse even if Jeff won't.

The teaching of history is important, but if it does not activate the student to a fully civic life within a democratic republic, then you may as well schedule him or her for another semester of Home Economics or some shit like that.
What I mean is, that the teaching of history and the almost abandoned topic of civics go hand in hand, both courses acting together, prepare the student for citizenship.
Anyway the current education set up is completely wrong anyway, too much time is wasted in classrooms on standardized testing which is nothing but a means to keep teachers under the thumb of the ignorant rabble in the state legislature. I'm surprised quite frankly given the toxic over scheduled environment in the classroom that history scores aren't lower.

Our classrooms are geared pretty much to churn two types, MBAs and the sort of people that MBAs get to boss around. Our economy on the other hand has been pretty good until recently in adapting to this restricted selection of manpower.
Of course we are currently mired in recession so take that as a grim reminder as to what happens when all you can graduate is thralls and middle managers for over 20 years.
Not two weeks ago, the President of the United States of America had to plead with academia to graduate some thirty thousand more engineers thus to spark off the usual technological revival that'll bootstrap the economy of out it's current torpidity.
What is this 1957??
Eisenhower trying to catch up to Sputnik??
There is something really really wrong when America of all places, is suddenly sort of engineers! And that problem starts in the classroom, shit we haven't got any instrumentation engineers, but the 4th grade's MCAS scores are like thru da roof!
yay.