One of my sons was a history buff from the time he was in elementary school. He loved reading history books. He also has a good memory and was creative so he could tell you parts of history like he was reading a story book. When he was young, I got him older history and civic texts and stories that were written before the Marxists air brushed the founding fathers away. Those books were also written for boys about mostly American men! In junior high he moved on to modern versions of history but nothing radical.
But, he was also excellent in science and in High School some very wicked feminists had taken over the history department and they were not able to shape his knowledge of history to fit their “world view” as he already knew a boatload of facts and context. They would give out inaccurate information and that is when I taught him to overlook the Marxists when you get one for a teacher and just tell them what they want to hear - right or wrong - so you don’t mess up your GPA. He did what I suggested, but was disgusted. He felt he was lying all year.
He decided to make history his hobby and go into science.
“Those books were also written for boys about mostly American men!”
My parents had a bookshelf that I made my way through going up. I remember having all these history textbooks, and reading them on trips, and I was maybe 10-11. I knew them for the most part by heart. I can’t imagine what my parents must have thought at the time, I don’t know anyone else like that around my age.
“He did what I suggested, but was disgusted. He felt he was lying all year.”
I did the same when I was in university. I actually left in my last year because I was disgusted by the whole process. I met my fiancee a few years later and she encouraged me to go back. I realised when I did, that I was for the first time, free. I could write about what I wanted to write and battle the profs, and the worst thing they could do is give me a poor grade. Some did, others respected me, but for me, it was good to respect myself and defend my own beliefs.
It wears on you though. I am glad to be finished. I am hoping to go on and teach so I can give young men and women the opportunity to learn history the way it was supposed to be taught, like your son did.
We talk about how the schools are failing boys, and this is part. Boys would love to tell ‘real stories’ and that is exactly what history is all about, being able to tell the stories of the past.
He decided to make history his hobby and go into science.