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Ashley,

Last week, the show 60 Minutes had a segment on the author David McCullough. He was in Paris talking about his latest book, The Greater Journey (which I loved!). In the course of his piece, he was actually with Olivia De Haviland, who resides in Paris. She is well into her 90s, but looks about 70, and was as gracious and active as ever. One of the last grande dames of the 20th century, IMO.

Re Mr. McCullough: In his closing statements, he referred to the modern generation as being historically illiterate. He told of giving a lecture recently at a Midwestern college and having a co-ed approach him afterwards to say that, for the first time, she learned that "the thirteen colonies were all on the East Coast." Even my special needs students back in the 1960s learned that much!

McCullough then urged parents and grandparents to spend more time filling in the blanks of history that our educational system has been leaving out. My thought on that was "I wonder how many parents and grandparents know enough American history to do that..."