So David Broder thinks we can’t teach

So Columnists David Broder thinks US teachers can’t teach.
As a teacher, I take exception to that.
First Broader blames the textbooks, which teachers don’t write:
“David McCullough's point. Late last month, the prolific historian had told a U.S. Senate hearing that his examination of school history textbooks had shown a disquieting trend. Over the years, he said, he has noticed that the typeface in those books is growing larger, the illustrations more lavish and the content shrinking.”

Then he blames the teachers:

“Problem starts with teachers”
“McCullough said at the hearing that the problem starts with the training that teachers receive. "Too many have degrees in education," he said, "and don't really know the subject they are teaching."
He also said: "It is impossible to love a subject you don't know, and without a passion for history, the teaching of history becomes a matter of rote learning and drudgery."
Without personal knowledge of history and enthusiasm for the subject, "you're much more dependent on the textbook," and, with rare exceptions -- he mentioned the great one-volume American history text by Daniel Boorstin, the late librarian of Congress --"you read these texts and ask yourself, 'Are they assigned as punishment?' " David Broder is a columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group.

This is bull-shit. The standard of knowledge needed to teach history in Kansas is quite high and getting higher. I’m sure this is the same in many other states. You can’t teach it if you don’t have passion for the subject. And most of us would never rely entirely on a textbook. They’re never adequate and never will be. Many of us improvise with some very good movies, such as “Ride With the Devil,” 1999, a very good portrayal of William Quantrill’s raid on the Kansas town of Lawrence. We use other articles and books as well.
Too often I hear students asking me “when will I use this?” It’s even worse when I find out that adults are saying that.
Let’s just look at a few examples of the attitude we teachers have to put up with in the state of Kansas:
1. Too often I hear students asking me “when will I use this?” It’s even worse when I find out that adults are saying that. Let’s just look at a few examples of the attitude we teachers have to put up with in the state of Kansas.
2. We have a elected state-level senators and representatives that are fighting the “so called activists” courts for the right NOT to fund education. What good are decent teachers to states that don’t believe in funding education? The schools can’t afford to hire these good teachers.
3. The same elected officials have wasted valuable time trying to dumb down our science standards by replacing evolutionary theory with myths and fairy tales.
4. Attempts to revise history are being made by such US congress persons as Kansas Republican congressman Todd Tiahrt.. .) All images of gay gatherings at national sites, including the Millennium March on the Washington Mall have been ordered removed from videotapes that have been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 according to a civil service group.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) said that the directive came from National Parks Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy. Murphy is said to have been concerned about pictures in the video that showed same-sex couples kissing and holding hands after conservative groups complained.
In their place, the Park Service is inserting scenes of the Christian group Promise Keepers and pro-Gulf War demonstrators though these events did not take place at the Memorial in what Murphy called a "more balanced" version. So how are we supposed to teach proper history to students when our elected representatives are rewriting it.
5. Another example, thanks to Tiahrt once again, is the switch in the Washington DC hall of statues from George W. Glick, a forgotten figure in 19th-century Kansas politics, to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander in Europe from Abilene, Kan. His only ties to Kanas was that he grew up in Abilene. He never returned to Kansas.
“Every Kansan that I brought here had the same problem,” said Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), who spearheaded the effort to replace the statues. “They didn’t understand who these people were.”
But Glick was no political slouch. A lawyer, farmer and statesman, he fought for the Union in the Civil War and was elected governor of Kansas as a Democrat.

So if our own elected officials can excuse their ignorance of history and that of the people around them, who cares if you have good history teachers? If history is not valued by society it’s not the fault of the teachers.

5. Broader also suggested that historical sites be emphasized for historical purposes:
“McCullough gave enthusiastic support to a suggestion from Alexander and Kennedy that the hundreds of national historical sites scattered around the country be used for seminars where teachers could visit the places where signal events of the past occurred and fill themselves with the stories the well-informed guides can provide.”
Again, That’s a problem here in Kansas. People feel a need to tear down historical buildings to build parking lots. According to Eagle Blogger Randy Scholfield:
“The bulldozers are set to roll, but a local historic preservation group is making a last-ditch attempt to save the historic Fidelity Title building at 221 N. Market. Greg Kite says his group recently offered the Wichita Bar Association $240,000 for the building — three times what the association paid for it just a few years ago. The preservationists even secured $500,000 for renovation. But the association, which earlier hinted it might consider just such an extravagant offer, now says forget it. Not interested. The Wichita Bar Association gains eight parking spaces, and Wichita loses a piece of its history and architectural heritage.”

We can teach all the history we want and we can try and create some enthusiasm, but our society has lost its interests in past events and only looks forward. The gods of economics and technology is where the schools put their money and that Mr. Broder is the problem.