Booth figure at ALPLM

[davg2000]

(04-07-2017 06:51 PM)L Verge Wrote:  A single statue does not tell the whole story, so if the assassination is scholastically touched on in other ways, it may not be needed. Hopefully, Booth could be/is graphically portrayed via panels or touchscreens? To eliminate him completely would harm history, IMO.

I do recall that the original director received some criticism from John Y. and others regarding his methods of appealing to the masses. History has been pushed farther and farther back in curricula today, so it might be wise to find gimmicks to hook students, but there can be tasteful gimmicks and then there can be ones that go a bit too far.

P.S. I taught secondary history for nearly a decade and then spent about thirty years working with school groups who toured the Surratt House (and also went into their classrooms to teach). I received the shock of my life about ten years ago when I had 20 sixth graders sitting in front of me in our visitors' center and not one hand went up when I asked who Abraham Lincoln was! These were not special needs children.

The only way that I finally got an answer out of them was to show them a penny and then a $5 bill. One gent finally said, "Oh yeah - he's that dude on the money." Sad commentary. If I had been that teacher, I would have died of mortification. However, as soon as we got into the topic of the conspiracy (i.e. gangs in modern language), they became very interested, and I had them eating out of my hand by the end of a twenty-minute session. Maybe we do need that statue in ALPLM...

I taught both English and history in high school, and I saw much good and bad teaching. I learned that kids retain information that they are required to use creatively. If all they do is memorize to be able to pass an objective test, the class is worthless, and the teacher is either terribly lazy or merely terrible. Pity the kids. ALPLM tries to present Lincoln's story in a way that patrons are engaged, just as a good teacher engages his pupils. Thus, the figures, which are truly life-like, invite inspection. (We are told, though, not to let people touch them.) And the only figure which I thought was in questionable taste was the one of Booth which has been removed. I don't think it will be missed.

We are into our busy time. Lots of school trips. Quite often, but not always, good teachers have prepared their pupils. Kids go through searching for answers and information to be able to write a report or do something else which a teacher will require of them other than pass a test. And they learn about Lincoln and the Civil War.

I will occasionally find someone who doesn't know who John Wilkes Booth was, although this person is seldom a teenager. Usually people know some stuff, but you would not be surprised how many people are proud of the fact that they've read O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln and then think they are informed. Although the Museum provides little about either the conspiracy to kidnap or the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, Booth's presence is certainly there, despite the figure's removal.