AW1Steve
Posts: 14330
Joined: 3/10/2007 From: USA Me-FL-DC-Guam-WS-NE-IL-? Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Treetop64 History isn't the only thing many of my fellow citizens have trouble with. Just saying the word "math" strikes paralyzing fear in many. I've tutored math at community colleges, and have often found the issue isn't that students aren't smart enough to "get it" - because they are for the most part, but they have been taught from a young age to fear anything mathematical, no matter how simple, and have an ingrained psychological barrier as a result. They treat math as though it's some mystical black art that only a precious few will ever understand. Back on topic, to learn that such a percentage didn't know that the United States' adversary during the Cold War was the Soviet Union is alarming. IMO, I think students would do a better job of learning history if more emphasis was placed on the "how" and "why" of events, instead of just rigidly memorizing a list of dusty old dates and names. One would think that learning the relevancy of events and the drama associated with them would make remembering the names and dates come much more naturally. I couldn't agree with you more! Despite a high school diploma , I found myself as new Navy recruit with horrible math skills. Before I began my class "A" school I found myself in the hands of Petty officer Bell from Georgia , also a high school graduate. I two very crammed weeks I found more proficientcy in basic math skills then anything I acquired in years of public (and some private) education. What he called "basic farm math" . And I can tell you distinctly where I developed a absolute passion for history. In my sophomore year in high school I had a history teacher who was we would today call a "re-enactor". Revolutionary war , civil war , the frontier, and all the periods in between , he'd show up in the appropriate costume , ready to make history live and breath. No one missed class when he did "the mountain men" in every gory detail!
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