I have always loved learning about history. One of my biggest disappointments with my schooling was the lack of classroom time given to the Vietnam War. It seemed that history class always covered everything from "the beginning of mankind" to World War II. Anything after WWII never got proper attention. I kept wondering when we would discuss Vietnam. All I knew was that Vietnam caused major protests on the homefront. The peace and love movement was sweeping our nation. The USA got its ass kicked by Vietnam. Maybe that's why it is a sore subject to Americans. We didn't come out as the winners and lost several soldiers there. So much attention on the presidential candidates' Vietnam experiences when many of the young voters don't have a clue about that war.
The other day I received a photo of Kerry & Edwards along with a plea for a contribution. I gave mom the photo. She looked at it like secondhand clothes and said, "Para que quiero eso. Eso no vale un cacahuate."
"You're not voting for Bush, are you?" I asked in horror.
"No, but they are not that great of an alternative," replied my Democratic mom.
1 comment:
I think a big reason for the lack of Vietnam related stuff in class is because perhaps a lot of teachers have not figured out what it was really all about. Hell, to my dismay and disillusionment, my high school history teacher skipped the chapter on the Mexican-American war. She had just spent a month on African-American history and then this chapter came along and she said she didn't have to teach it--she accomplished one thing, she alienated each and every Latino student sitting in that class.
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