West Elk doing a great job Educating the students

[Diane Amberg]

Oh my, such class.  I've caught some of you all in really nasty lies and "creative" posting and you dare to judge me? HA!   

[Varmit]

West elk seems to be an ok school, but I wish they (and all other schools) would teach history from more than one viewpoint.

[Wilma]

You have something there, Varmit.  American history should be taught right from the Revolution up, including all of the papers generated by it.  Re:  The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, etc.  Our children should be familiar with all of the reasons we needed to be a free nation, not dependent on a Mother country.  They should know why our wars were fought.  Our history didn't start in the middle of the 20th century.

[Varmit]

I agree Wilma. But I was thinking that more emphasis should be placed on the subject of history overall, not just American history. And that emphasis should include varying viewpoints of certain events. For example, Christopher Clombus is given credit as the firstdiscoverer of America, when in fact we know that other Europeans were here way before him. It also needs to be taught that he was a genocidal madman. That's just one example of one area that most schools gloss over. Slaverey ,wars, political exploitation, these things should be looked at from all angles, not just the "red, white, and blue" perspective.

[Wilma]

I think most of us have picked up on the fact that Columbus was not the first European to land in North America.  Are they still teaching it that way?  I know there needs to be an explanation as to why there is a Columbus Day, especially if the school kids get a day off for it.

I was going to say that some of the political stuff should be left for college, but so many of our young people do not get to go to college that it might be better to get into it before they leave high school.  Something needs to be done to reduce the hatred, racism and bigotry that exists.  Maybe it needs to be done with the older generation so that it won't be taught to the young 'uns at home.

I remember the segregation days in Sedgwick County, even though it didn't exist in the small towns where I grew up.  There were no black families in the small towns.  There were no black children in all the schools that I attended until we moved to Piedmont and there was a black boy in the freshman class.  We tried to treat him the same as the white boys, but he held back from any association with white girls.  Our young people today are much more familiar with other races and for the most part, are handling it very well here in Elk County.  I wish it were so in the rest of the country.

[Varmit]

I think the political stuff should begin around the 6th grade. I also believe that elementary and especially high school students should be taught the truth about our founding and the people who lead it; As well as the backers of both sides. As for the founding papers, the truth is that they are not as special as they have been made out to be. Let's be honest here, at the time of their writing they only applied to basically rich white men.
Our children are not being taught the truth about this or any other country.
I agree that something definitely needs to change. We have entirely way to much ignorance in this country and it will only get worse as children watch and hear their parents speak and act negatively about other cultures. How many times have you heard people around hear talk about "them Damn wetback Mexicans" or "lazy niggers" ...all the while waving a flag that is supposed to represent freedom and equality? I don't get it...they complain about people coming here illegally which is exactly what our ancestors did.
I would like to see our children be taught the truth about wwII, we were not the great saviors we are made out to be! We turned away boat loads of Jews seeking asylum, our president was one of the biggest anti Semites in the world!
I don't mean to go off on a rant but I am sick and tired of all the lies.