Oklahoma Democrats

I recently had the chance to go to the national World War II museum in New Orleans. There they have a new 4-D movie that does a fantastic job of telling the story of America’s role in the war, while keeping everyone  in the theater totally involved. I looked at the faces of the young people in the crowd as we exited the cinema. Some had been crying, others had that look that says “I never realized..”-the young woman in our group wanted to hear more stories about my Dad, who served in the Pacific for four long years. It was history done right, and it is needed now more than ever.

A recent study said that half of our college graduates cannot tell who was on what side in that greatest of all world struggles. That is bad enough, but it is a disaster for a Republic that counts on informed decisions by voters. We have had a lot of stressing of the need for math/science in schools since sputnik, but  civics and history are must-haves in a country that votes on foreign policy decisions. Too often they are taught as an afterthought, often by someone for whom it is not their primary focus. I was lucky-the football coaches that taught history at McAlester back in the day were almost all veterans, and they took their jobs seriously in the classroom. Others I have talked to were not so fortunate.

Other people have told me that “the semester ended before we even got to World War I ” or that some teachers didn’t want to stress war or conflict…as if this nation was  born or  has endured without war or conflict. Yes, to study that is sometimes unpleasant, and involves value judgments as to right and wrong. Deal with it…and as effectively summed up by Nathan Forrest (himself a controversial part of history) “war means fighting and fighting means killing”. Sometimes evil must be stopped by valor. Our students and young people appreciate it when they are finally not fed feel-good pablum or a suger-coated version of what happened.  My Dad, and many others, spent their best years in a world at war.  But in doing so  they stopped  mass murderers in their tracks.  We are in  similar struggles today. History and civics matter, because the life of this Republic that stands for freedom matters. Teach them well.-Ben Odom

-Ben Odom

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