For the past couple months, after discovering that all the bank tellers that I dealt with had no idea as to who that was on the ten-dollar bill, I have asked people--where appropriate--about that drawing on the bill, and I would estimate that maybe 5 percent knew that it was Alexander Hamilton.
As for the others, when told who it was (although the name appears below the engraving), usually I got a blank stare. They had no idea as to the role Alexander Hamilton played in our country's history. Yep, the teachers are doing a bang-up job in teaching the children about the Founding Fathers.
A few years ago I read somewhere that teachers of American history were given curricula that focused on the post Civil War era to The Vietnam era and excluded the Rev. War and the founding.
This was because it was deemed more importent to teach "change" rather than foundation.
It scared me then; it angers me now that i see the result.
I have taken to a new game when dining out on the cheap. I will show the waitress/waiter a $5 bill and tell them it is their tip; then show a $10 bill. “But, if you can tell me who this man was and where he was born, this will be your tip.”
It’s a cheap history lesson for them.