Posted on 04/24/2013 2:33:16 PM PDT by NYer
Bob and Sarah Fisher were checking their daughter's homework last week when a social studies assignment caught their attention – it criticized the United States for dropping the atomic bomb during World War Two.
"Both of our grandfathers were in World War Two and this worksheet makes it seem as if they were the bad guys," Fisher told Fox News.
The Fishers have a daughter in eighth grade at Victory Junior High School in New York. They said the anti-American slant in the homework assignment was shocking.
"As if somehow the Japanese were the victims and that the United States had no right to do what they did," Fisher said. "It totally takes away from the sacrifices made by their generation and we won't stand by and not say something about it."
The "Why Did the U.S. Drop the Bomb?" homework assignment was created by EdHelper.com.
"But even now, people are still dying from the effects of the atomic bomb," the worksheet states. "The effects were so awful it is necessary to ask the question, 'Why did the US drop the bomb when the war was nearly over?'"
The students were then given four "possible" reasons why the United States dropped the bomb including the idea that "Americans believed Japan would never surrender."
The worksheet also suggested the U.S. bombed Hiroshima because 'the bomb cost a lot of money to develop and the U.S. wanted to use it. It would have been difficult to justify not using it after such a vast financial investment."
Students were instructed to write an argument against the Hiroshima attack "which you hope will stop the bombing."
Neither the principal at Victor Junior High School nor the superintendent returned numerous calls seeking comment.
One of the reasons the Fishers were so shocked is that they have been relatively pleased with the education their daughter has received at the school.
"We check homework regularly and have always been happy that history has been taught truthfully," Fisher said. "We have never seen homework that has been twisted or put a leftist spin on history before, which is why we were shocked by this one."
They said they've seen reports about liberal bias in public schools and they fear it may be creeping into their community.
"We do think that many public schools lean left – that they take history and put a liberal twist on it," Fisher said. "By not saying anything, it just makes it easier for them to slowly erode our educational system and change the true history of our country."
But the couple was especially proud of their daughter, Amanda.
"The funny thing is that our daughter thought it was wrong before we even said anything to her about it," she said. "She said that she couldn't argue against it because the United States had a right to drop the bomb in retaliation."
Japan Attack On Pearl Harbor
Enola Gay just before mission
Evidently our teachers believe we were supposed to funnel hundreds of thousands of American kids into the attack on the mainland and get them killed.
The logic escapes me.
Teachers like this believe the U.S. was the aggressor even before Pearl Harbor was attacked. With these people there is no logic . . . or common sense.
Have you ever visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona memorial?
I have only been once. But I was struck with how many Asian (assumed Japanese) tourists were also there. I have always wondered what their history classes taught about WWII.
I worked with a young German Engineer early in my career. We once talked about what we were taught about WWII. Her comment was that she never learned much beyond Hitler started it because of WWI, he was bad and Germany lost. She also stated, there are NO WAR memorials in Germany.
This was in 1995. As I recall, it was the 50 year anniversary of the end of the war, and my dad made headlines on the local paper, I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like: "NAVAL VETERAN DEFENDS USE OF A-BOMB, SAYS WE SHOULD HAVE DROPPED MORE"
No joke. Heh, later, when he read the paper and a few quotes from people who didn't like what he had to say, he said he meant every word of it, too.
Sigh. He only had a few more years left after that, but they were good ones. How I miss him.
“I have always wondered what their history classes taught about WWII.”
Pretty much it’s supposed to be along the lines of, “one day, for reasons they never fully understood, we started dropping atomic bombs on them”.
No rape of Nanking, no experiments on prisoners, no Korean slavery, no forced prostitution, etc etc.
The principal and teacher should be required to introduce their students to Operation Downfall and see if they still feel the same way.
PS: If you go to the museum there isn't even a mention of the Navy, not even a hint. The omission is almost comical. Not one exhibit on the Navy's role in the Marine Corp. LOL.
Because they did this to our prisoners, among a million other atrocities.
As the bomb was being dropped, my father in law was on a ship headed to japan... he was told he was to be in the first wave of the attack on the japanese mainland..
casualties in the first wave were expected to be 100%..
if that bomb was not dropped, my wife would not have been born..
or my children..
do not ever ask me if dropping the bomb was right, or if it was moral..
I will wipe the floor with that person with my response..
what the hell is wrong witrh teachers these days? Someoen NEEDS to put together a standars itenrary that ALL theachers MUST adhere to to prevent htem from brainwashign our kids iwth their blatant hateful anti-Americanism- and ANY teacher caught breakign protocol shoudl be fiend, and then lsoe liscence to teach if they commit it again
The program was great. Very informative and not politically correct in the least. It was a somber experience.
IIRC the cliffs of Peleliu were a strong indicator of what we'd see if we invaded the mainland. We likely saved many Japanese lives by dropping the bombs. I wonder if this teacher has an explanation of why the Japs didn't surrender after the first bomb went off.
My Grandfather too. He was an ETO vet with a combat engineering specialty, including beach demolitions. Too valuable to send home, he had his orders for Okinawa when the War ended. He got to go home instead. My Mom was born in July 1946. Every member of my family can do the math on that.
Weekly Standard had a great article on the decision a number of years back. Truman had unassailable signals intelligence that the senior Japanese were going to fight to the death. The people trying to open negotiations through the Russians and Swedes had zero authority to do so.
That old, tired argument again. What else are they
teaching about WWII these days? Not much, I would
suppose. My dad’s airborne outfit was the first to
occupy Japan (511PIR/11th AB). They greeted MacArthur
when he stepped off the plane.
To get my BA in history I had to do a Senior Project
which was an extensive research paper. I chose to
write about the Los Banos Raid (Luzon, PI 2/23/45).
Among my interviewees was Br Gen Henry Muller who
had been a Major and 11th AB G-2 until Spring ‘45.
After the Los Banos Raid Muller was promoted to
Asst G-2 for the Eight Army. I asked him what his
duties were with the 8th Army. He informed me that
he was assigned to survey the various divisions
associated with the 8th Army in order to determine
the number of potential casualties that could
result from an invasion of Japan. I then asked him
what that number was. Without batting an eye
General Muller said “For the 8th Army it was 90,000.”
Since the 8th Army constituted a relatively minute
part of the force that would be needed to invade
Japan can you imagine what the total number of
estimated casualties might have been?
I also had the opportunity to interview a gentle-
man who had been a prisoner of the Japanese and
had been rescued in the Los Banos Raid. I don’t
recall if he had read this or if he came up with this
on his own but he said if the US gov’t had chosen
to invade Japan and the citizens learned the
existense of the a-bombs in the US arsenal then
there would have been politicians hanging from
every cherry tree in Washington DC. I think he
was right, don’t you?
I lived in Japan for some time in the late 80's. During that time, one of the most popular books was a story that rewrote the ending of WWII into a glorious Japanese victory. I was constantly amazed by how many people weren't aware of, or refused to admit to, the incredible number of bloodthirsty acts the Japanese committed during the war.
My father was on a ship that had passed through the Panama Canal on it's way to the Pacific theater when the bombs were dropped. I have no patience for people who believe the bombs should never have been dropped.
I believe it was Saipan where the civilians jumped off the cliffs.
Good for these parents! IF every parent bothered to do this, we might turn a corner in this country. I am so SICK of this leftist trash!
There are, but few and far between. Also, they are very ‘bland’ in that they simply memorialize “all those killed in the Second World War”, blah, blah.
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