Dear President Trump,
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?”
-King David
On this day of remembrance for our veterans which honors all those, both past and present, who have served and fought for righteousness sake, may we also take some time to teach our children the reason for which we are honoring our vets. When we fail to remember the “5 W’s” and the “H”, for whom millions have fought and died for, and when we fail to teach our children these truths about our nation’s history, dangerous ideologies begin to seep in and take up stake in the young minds of our future leaders. Today we are reaping the harvest of the steady dripping away from teaching our children about our nation’s history – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The who, what, where, why, and how’s of the many wars, as well as the service of our men and women in uniform who served in those wars, is imperative to understanding America’s failures, as well as its prosperity.
As a recently retired, veteran elementary school teacher, with 34 years of service in our nation’s public school system, I believe I am quite qualified, to make this claim. I am a first hand witness to the erosion of historical knowledge from the minds of today’s American citizens.
This erosion is not news to you. Nor is it news, to a dwindling few educators, still in active service in today’s public school system. These true, honest, patriotic educators know the vital importance that historical knowledge plays in our nation’s safety and prosperity, Nor, is it news to Jesse Watters’, who routinely reminds America during his walkabouts on the streets of America about the danger we are in as a sovereign and just nation. When a 35 year old, born and bred American woman is asked “what the Revolutionary War was fought over”, and her response is, “Ummmmm…… Oh man! I know I should know that answer…… but I don’t!” it’s safe to say our country’s future is on the brink of collapse.
My daughter, who recently graduated with a degree in History, and a Masters in Teaching, is now in her first assignment teaching U.S. history and economics at a small town high school. Yesterday, on a visit home, she asked me what movie her dad and I, were going to see. When she was told, “Midway. It’s a film about a WWII battle which changed the course of the war in the Pacific,” she responded, “Huh. I never had to learn about that war”.
Now, Mr. President, I know that my daughter is not stupid. I was a witness to her abilities as learner from the time I carried her in my belly. In addition to taking on her student debt in excess of $75,000, we have also financed over $1,000 in fees to cover the myriad of tests she had to pass for her teaching certification. One test involved 3 months of studying, a minimum of 20 hours a week, while holding down a full time job, on the side, in order to be qualified to teach history in the state of Oregon. The study materials alone cost $200 dollars, and all for the purpose that she be able to pass on to her high school students the knowledge to such historical questions as, “What was the main agricultural crop of the people living in the southeastern part of what was once known as Pangea?” Yet, she doesn’t need to know important events in our Nation’s relatively young life, in order to be teaching United States history to tomorrow’s voters?
Today, I read that the school district in which I grew up, went to school, taught in for over 34 years, and still reside, will no longer be teaching United States History with an emphasis on truth and facts. Rather, teachers are being instructed to take on a subjective emphasis and teach American history from the “perspectives” or “feelings” of those involved. This is sickening. America is ill. One of the causes is a spreading cancer in our institute of education which is erasing, at an ever quickening rate, our country’s past story.
This Veteran’s Day, I invite all American’s to honor our Military vets for their service and sacrifice for the prosperity of the United States of America. I also invite all public, as well as private educator’s, to honor our vets by teaching their students about one event in our military history in which soldiers fought, bled, and died, in order that justice prevails. Finally, I invite you, President Trump to my “incomparable” state of Oregon, where almost 3/4 of a million people voted for you in 2016. I am pretty hopeful that we can make it “a Million from Oregon” in 2020! Or maybe even a “Lucky Number 7” (electoral votes)!
Thank You, Sir, for your great service and sacrifice, as well as the service of your family in Making America Great Again.
With All Due Respect,
A. Rest
email : a.restmega@gmail.com