Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[L Verge]

Reference your third paragraph: I never liked memorization either and did not expect it of my students. In fact, teaching during the Cold War as I did, some of my students actually believed that I was a Communist because I didn't expect memorization! Most of the students did not appreciate the fact that I leaned towards essays on tests either...

However, I do believe in sequential study of history so that a person can understand WHY some things happened based on what came before. From what I have seen in my daughter's education and now my grandson's over the past thirty years, that ain't happening!! As for teaching all sides of the story, that's not happening either. Of course, I can only speak for my region of the country, but since we're only a few miles from the nation's capital, one would hope for better results.

I might also add that my daughter has a Master's in curriculum development (newborn to Grade 8) and now serves as a mentoring teacher to those who are finding it difficult to teach in today's classrooms. She is quite disturbed with the quality of teachers in this area and has found, on the elementary level, that few have a well-rounded background in any subject. My hope is that the problems are only indigenous to certain areas of our country and that excellent teachers and excellent students are still out there in the hinterlands.